LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Parliamentary Questions

Norman Baker: To ask the Leader of the House how many Parliamentary Questions have been tabled to him since 1 January 2003, broken down by (a) Ordinary Written and (b) Named Day; what percentage in respect of (a) were answered within 10 working days; and what percentage in respect of (b) were answered by the specified date.

Peter Hain: Ministers have an obligation to Parliament to ensure that Members receive a substantive response to their Named Day question on the named day and to endeavour to answer an Ordinary Written question within a working week of it being tabled. Ministers and their Departments should make every effort to ensure that the live load of questions still awaiting a substantive reply should be kept to a minimum at all times.
	From 1 January 2003 to Friday 27 February 2004:
	102 Ordinary Written Questions were tabled, of which 100 per cent. were answered within 10 working days.
	49 Named Day Questions were tabled, of which 96 per cent. were answered by the specified date.

TREASURY

Child Benefit

Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to his Department of administering Child Benefit was (a) in total and (b) per claimant in the last year for which figures are available.

Dawn Primarolo: Child Benefit is administered by the Child Benefit Office which only became a part of the Inland Revenue on 1 April 2003 so figures for a full year are not available.

Contraband/Counterfeit Goods (Northern Ireland)

Iris Robinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the (a) quantity and (b) monetary value of (i) illegal fuel, (ii) cigarettes and (iii) counterfeit goods seized over the last year in Northern Ireland.

John Healey: The latest published seizure figures for illegal fuel in Northern Ireland are contained in HM Customs and Excise Annual Report 2002–03 (HC 52) and for other commodities in the Northern Ireland Organised Crime Task Force, Strategic Response 2002–03, which is available from their website at www.octf.gov.uk.

National Statistics

Michael Meacher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the level of real personal disposable income was in each year since 1980; and what the percentage change was in each year compared with the previous year.

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Meacher, dated 3 March 2004
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on the level of real personal disposable income. I am replying in his absence. (157407)
	The information available is shown in the table. The data are presented as annual values for 1980 to 2002. Annual data for 2003 are not published until 26 March 2004.
	The households' series used for these data are for the combined household and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) sectors. The accounts for the household and NPISH sectors are currently combined: separate estimates are not available.
	
		UK real households' disposable income(1): 1980–2002
		
			  Real households' disposable income (£ billion)(1) Percentage change, year-on-year 
		
		
			 1980 372 1.7 
			 1981 371 -0.5 
			 1982 369 -0.3 
			 1983 377 2.0 
			 1984 391 3.7 
			 1985 404 3.4 
			 1986 421 4.1 
			 1987 436 3.7 
			 1988 460 5.5 
			 1989 482 4.7 
			 1990 499 3.5 
			 1991 509 2.0 
			 1992 523 2.8 
			 1993 537 2.8 
			 1994 545 1.5 
			 1995 558 2.3 
			 1996 571 2.4 
			 1997 595 4.1 
			 1998 597 0.3 
			 1999 616 3.3 
			 2000 655 6.2 
			 2001 685 4.7 
			 2002 696 1.6 
		
	
	(1) Chained volume measures, with reference year 2000.
	Source:
	UK National Accounts (ONS).

Independent Brewers

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent meetings he has had with representatives of independent brewers.

John Healey: Treasury Ministers and officials hold meetings on a regular basis with a wide range of representative bodies. I met the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) on 6 February 2004 and discussions have been held with SIBA on the Customs and Excise document "Small Breweries' Relief: A Call for Evidence" published on 29 July 2003.

Occupational Physiotherapy

Paul Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to address the different tax treatment of in-house occupational physiotherapy and a contracted service.

Ruth Kelly: The Government keeps all taxes under review and any changes will be considered as part of the normal Budget process. There is currently no specific employment benefit tax relief for the cost of private health care; employees will generally be chargeable on the cost of this treatment, whether provided directly by the employer or via payment to a health provider.
	Treatment provided by physiotherapists that are registered with the Health Professionals Council is exempt from VAT, whether provided in-house or purchased on a contract basis. This service remains free to patients when provided on the NHS.

Office of Government Commerce

Joan Walley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what annual records are kept on Government Department purchases from portfolio contract holders by the Office of Government Commerce; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Boateng: Portfolio contract holders are required to submit to OGCbuying.solutions on a quarterly basis the total value of contract sales arising from purchases made by Central Government, the Ministry of Defence, HM Prison Service and the National Health Service.
	This information relates to sales totals only, and the OGCbuying.solutions does not receive or keep records of individual purchasing transactions.

Parliamentary Questions

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many parliamentary questions have been tabled to his Department since 1 January 2003, broken down by (a) ordinary written and (b) named day; what percentage in respect of (a) were answered within 10 working days and what percentage in respect of (b) were answered by the specified date.

John Healey: 84.4 per cent. of the 3,489 ordinary written questions tabled to the Chancellor of the Exchequer between January 2003 and February 2004 were answered substantively within 10 working days; and in the same period, 70.2 per cent. of the 544 named day questions were answered on the nominated day.

PFI/PPP Contracts

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) public finance initiative and (b) public private partnership contracts have been signed for Lancashire projects in each of the last three years, broken down by (a) contract amount and (b) project.

Paul Boateng: Information on signed private finance initiative projects is submitted to the Treasury by departments. A spreadsheet of these data, which were last submitted in July 2003, is available from the HM Treasury website at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/documents/public private partnerships/ppp pfi stats.cfm
	The spreadsheet can be searched by date of signature, capital value and region.

Small Business Taxation

Colin Pickthall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with representatives of small and medium enterprises on changes to the taxation of small businesses.

Dawn Primarolo: Treasury Ministers meet regularly with business leaders and others to discuss a wide range of subjects, including the taxation of small business, and to consider the role the Government can continue to play in fostering enterprise, improving productivity and ensuring a competitive economy.

Stamp Duty

John Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to public funds would be of making 2 per cent. the highest rate of stamp duty levied above existing thresholds.

Ruth Kelly: The revenue cost of restructuring stamp duty on property transactions according to the scheme described, which applies a 1 per cent. rate on transactions values above £60,000 and a 2 per cent. rate above £250,000, is estimated to be £1.8 billion in 2004–05. This does not include any allowance for behavioural changes.

Tax Credits

George Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received from (a) the Child Poverty Action Group and (b) other charities regarding (i) the administration of the Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit since 6 April 2003 and (ii) take-up rates of tax credits.

Dawn Primarolo: Officials from the Inland Revenue, HM Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions meet the Child Poverty Action Group and other interest groups regularly to discuss a range of tax credits issues.

Income Tax

John Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to public funds would be of reducing the standard rate of income tax to 21 per cent.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to table 1.6 "Direct effects of illustrative tax changes" on the Inland Revenue website www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/tax expenditures/ table-16.pdf.

Thalidomide Trust

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the current draft agreement between the Inland Revenue and the Thalidomide Trust.

Dawn Primarolo: The tax affairs of the Thalidomide Trust, like those of all taxpayers, are confidential and a matter for the trustees and the Inland Revenue. If the trustees wish to make a statement about any discussions they have had with the Inland Revenue that is for them to decide.

UK Presidencies (G8/EU)

Tom Brake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues in the last 12 months on the priorities the Government intend to pursue when the UK assumes the presidencies of the (a) G8 and (b) EU.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my hon. Friend the Minister for Europe gave him on 26 February 2004, Official Report, column 483W.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Bangladesh

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what contribution his Department is making to the development of education in Bangladesh.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: My right hon. Friend approved a grant of £100 million over six years as the UK contribution to a sector-wide programme for primary education in Bangladesh which I was able to announce during my visit to Bangladesh in January. This is the largest single grant that DFID has ever made to Bangladesh. Its purpose is to help increase access to education for 2 to 3 million extra children. In addition, DFID also supports two other Government programmes and a number of education programmes run by NGOs aimed specifically at providing education to hard to reach children who would otherwise miss out, for example working children.

Haiti

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on aid to Haiti.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: A Small Grants Scheme finances development activities in basic sanitation, HIV/AIDS and rural livelihoods. Haiti also benefits from projects financed by the DFID Civil Society Challenge Fund.
	The UK's main support to Haiti is provided through the European Union. The UK finances approximately 13 per cent. of the European Development Fund budget (Haiti's allocation under the latest EOF is frozen pending political progress). The UK also provides support to Haiti through its membership of the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank; the latter resumed lending to Haiti in 2003.
	DFID will consider the imminent United Nations Flash Appeal when launched.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions he has held with the Department of Trade and Industry concerning the involvement of UK companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Hilary Benn: I have raised the issue with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and we will be discussing it further later this month.

India

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans he has to increase aid to India.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID provided £161 million of bilateral development assistance to India in 2002–03. In the New Delhi Declaration of January 2002 the two Prime Ministers, Tony Blair and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, looked forward to expenditure of over £300 million. We are making progress towards this budget and expect to be able to disburse some £200 million in 2003–04.

Doha Trade Round

Quentin Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the significance for developing countries of completing the Doha trade round.

Hilary Benn: The benefits of the Doha round for developing countries will depend on the final outcome at the conclusion of the negotiations. This was originally scheduled for January 2005 but it is unlikely with the collapse of the WTO ministerial at Cancun that this deadline will be met. It is widely acknowledge that multilateral trade reform can have significant benefits for developing countries. For example, the World Bank estimates that eliminating all barriers to trade in goods would generate an extra US$250 billion to US$620 billion in global income, up to half of which would go to developing countries. In terms of poverty reduction, this could lift over 300 million people out of poverty by 2015.
	Nonetheless, while the reforms may lead to aggregate gains in a country's economic welfare, they inevitably create losers. As well as undertaking studies on the effects of trade reform on livelihoods and food security of the poor segments of the population in developing countries, DFID is working with a number of developing country partners and through the multilateral system to link the trade agenda within countries' own development strategies. The intention is to ensure that liberalisation is accompanied by other policies to help maximise the economic opportunities for all and mitigate adverse impacts on poor households.

Uganda

Valerie Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the extent is of collaboration with other EU donors to ensure that humanitarian aid to Uganda is effective.

Hilary Benn: DFID works closely with other European Union partners and the European Commission to ensure that humanitarian assistance provided to northern Uganda is as effective as possible. European Union Heads of Mission and technical advisers based in Kampala meet regularly to consider the latest developments on the ground and to coordinate assistance to all affected areas. On a number of occasions EU donors have made joint assessment visits to the north. The DFID office in Uganda stays in close touch with the European Community Humanitarian Office for East Africa based in Nairobi, Kenya.
	Collaboration between EU member states is part of wider arrangements for coordination of humanitarian assistance to northern Uganda. In this context EU member states, as a group, work particularly closely with UN agencies and other donors.

Uganda

Bob Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the humanitarian crisis in northern Uganda; and what action he is taking to address it.

Hilary Benn: The humanitarian impact of the conflict in northern Uganda is severe. About 1.4 million people have been displaced across the region. Over the past 18 years, more than 20,000 children have been abducted by the brutal Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
	While the conflict persists, we will continue to play a strong role in addressing its humanitarian consequences. Over the last year we have provided £8.4 million of humanitarian assistance, which has been channelled through the World Food Programme, UNICEF and the Uganda Red Cross Society. In addition, we are supporting a number of programmes responding to the plight of children affected by the conflict. With our help, UNICEF and Save the Children Fund are improving the conditions for the large number of unaccompanied children who are sleeping in town centres at night to avoid abduction. We are helping to re-integrate ex-LRA child combatants with their families and local communities.
	Along with other colleagues in the donor community including UN agencies and NGOs, we continue to monitor and assess the humanitarian impact of the situation and to consider what more we can do to assist those affected.

Commonwealth

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of his Department's budget will be spent in Commonwealth countries in 2003–04; and what percentage change upon the budget for 1998–99 this represents.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Of the proportion of the DFID programme which goes to specific geographical destinations, Commonwealth countries received £624 million (65 per cent.) in 1998–99 and £877 million (59 per cent.) in 2002–03. This is a 40 per cent. increase in cash terms. Figures for 2003–04 are not yet available.

HIV/AIDS

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what action his Department is taking to tackle HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.

Hilary Benn: DFID recognises that HIV/AIDS is a terrible human catastrophe and is one of the most important development challenges facing Africa. The UK is the second largest bilateral donor of HIV/AIDS assistance in the world. In 2002–03 UK spend to address HIV/AIDS and sexual health globally amounted to over £270 million. This Department has HIV/AIDS investments in most of our 16 focus countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, indirect support is being provided to address HIV/AIDS through budget support. We have committed over £25 million to support the International Partnership Against AIDS in Africa (IPAA) initiative—a regional, Africa-led initiative, and $280 million over 8 years to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. We will make reducing the vulnerability of poor people to HIV and to the impact of AIDS a priority for the extra resources the UK will be providing to Africa in 2006.
	Considerable additional financial support continues to be provided through institutions such as WHO, UNAIDS, UNFPA, and NGOs and civil society organisations in a coherent effort to combat the disease and support those already living with it.
	But we are committed to doing more. The Government has published a Call for Action on HIV/AIDS. This is the first stage in an intensified effort on HIV/AIDS, and a new UK strategy will be published later in the year. The Call for Action highlights the need for: better funding, better donor co-ordination, better HIV/AIDS programmes and stronger political support. The UK has pushed for HIV to be a focus issue for the Africa Partners Forum. HIV remains a high order issue for the G8 Africa Action Plan. The UK will prioritise HIV/AIDS and Africa during the UK Presidency of the G8 in 2005.

HIV/AIDS

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on his Department's contribution to the global campaign to tackle AIDS.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The UK is the second largest bilateral donor of HIV/AIDS assistance to developing countries. Our bilateral funding has increased seven-fold, from £38 million in 1997–98 to more than £270 million in 2002–03. The UK was instrumental in setting up the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and has committed US$ 280 million over seven years to ensure it has long term stability of funding. The Government published its Call for Action on HIV/AIDS on World AIDS Day, which emphasises the UK's commitment to AIDS and highlights the need for stronger political direction; better funding; better donor coordination and better HIV/AIDS programmes.

Ethiopia

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on development assistance to Ethiopia.

Hilary Benn: As I saw during my recent visit, the problems facing Ethiopia are immense. Almost one half of its 70 million people live below the national poverty line. Hunger, HIV/AIDS and the need to provide basic services pose enormous challenges.
	The time is right for the international community to play a much larger role in helping Ethiopia meet these challenges. This is what the UK intends to do. On current plans, UK development assistance will increase from £19 million this financial year to £57 million in 2005–06. This will include substantial direct budget support. We will also support the Ethiopian Government's own plans to tackle the roots of hunger.
	At the same time, we will continue to respond to immediate humanitarian needs. This year, despite the good harvest, some 7.2 million people will still need support to stay alive. The reason is not a shortage of food as a whole in Ethiopia—it is poverty. During my visit, I agreed to provide immediate further assistance of £10 million to meet both food and non-food needs, including water, sanitation and health. We will continue to keep the situation under very close review.

Employee Ownership

Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether his Department provides support to governments actively to develop employee ownership of business units programmes.

Hilary Benn: DFID provides support to governments both directly and indirectly to develop programmes that promote employee ownership of business units. In South Africa, for example, DFID is providing a range of assistance to Government to support employee ownership of privatised enterprises. This has included assistance to the Department of Public Enterprises to incorporate employee share ownership schemes in its programme to divest the state-owned forestry company's holdings. DFID is also providing support to the Government of Serbia to implement its privatisation programme, which allows for employees to bid for up to 30 per cent. of the shares in the companies.
	DFID also contributes indirectly to promoting employee ownership of business through its membership of major international financial institutions such as the World Bank Group and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which actively promote employee share ownership in restructuring and privatisation programmes in a number of countries. DFID has not received requests from governments to help develop employee ownership of existing business units in the private sector.

Employee Ownership

Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department provides to governments undertaking privatisation programmes to enable employees to buy and run businesses.

Hilary Benn: Few governments have as a policy objective privatisation programmes aimed specifically at enabling employees to buy and run businesses. However, DFID provides extensive support to governments to develop the micro, small and medium enterprise sector. Our support includes assistance to governments to improve the legal and regulatory framework for enterprise; the development of financial institutions to increase the availability of finance needed to establish and operate businesses; and programmes to strengthen local management skills and business support services. These support programmes encourage and enable all entrepreneurs in the community to buy and run businesses, including employees of state-owned enterprises.
	In China, for example, DFID's support to the enterprise sector combines support for state-owned enterprise reform with an enterprise development programme to promote the development of small, private businesses. This programme includes consulting and training services and a credit guarantee scheme to increase bank finance for small enterprise and is open to employees of state-owned enterprises and to the wider entrepreneurial community.

CDC

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the airline travel policy for the directors of (a) CDC and (b) Actis is in respect of (i) European and (ii) inter-continental flights.

Hilary Benn: The existing CDC airline travel policy will apply to both CDC and Actis and covers all staff, including directors.
	Economy class travel will be used for all flights of less than six hours duration, while business class travel is allowed for flights of over six hours duration or for overnight flights. First class travel may only be used in special circumstances such as intra-continental travel where business class is not available and is subject to prior approval.

CDC

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the total cost of the reorganisation of CDC and Actis.

Hilary Benn: Our estimate of the total costs of the reorganisation of CDC is £11.5 million. This is made up as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
		
		
			 DFID Advisory costs 3.5 
			 CDC Advisory and staff costs 5.6 
			 CDC Implementation costs 2.4 
		
	
	Both CDC and DFID have statutory duties and duties of due diligence to discharge. These have to be carried out fully and thoroughly and need properly qualified professional expertise. It was also important to find the right corporate model and to achieve the best value for money. The costs are commensurate with the degree of care and attention needed in the restructuring of a £1.1 billion enterprise.

Chad

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance has been given to Chad to deal with displaced people from Darfur, Sudan.

Hilary Benn: The United Nations estimates that there are 110,000 Sudanese refugees in Eastern Chad, displaced by the fighting in the Darfur region of Sudan.
	We contributed £1 million to UN High Commissioner for Refugees' work in Chad in October last year. We are currently considering some further contributions to international agencies working with Sudanese refugees.

GM Crops

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what GM crops are being grown in developing countries; and what the advantages over the comparable non-GM crops are of these crops, as cited in peer-reviewed research.

Hilary Benn: The bulk of GM crop production in developing countries is commercial. Of the six countries responsible for 99 per cent. of global crop production by area in 2003, four were developing countries: Argentina (21 per cent.), Brazil (4 per cent.), China (4 per cent.) and South Africa (1 per cent.). Almost all of Argentina's soybean production is now GM, while GM cotton now accounts for 58 per cent. of China's total cotton area 1 . The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications publication "Global Status of Commercialized Transgenic Crops: 2003" provides more information.
	A recently published report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics contains a number of case studies detailing the actual and potential benefits of GM crops for developing countries. These are not necessarily related to yield increases but may, for example, involve reduced farmer inputs.
	GM technology has the potential to provide commercial farmers in developing countries with new opportunities to increase the yield or quality of their crops. In particular, GM technology may enable farmers to protect their crops from environmental stresses and attacks from pathogens and insects.
	GM technology also has the potential to improve the yield and quality of smallholder crops, where the emphasis is on increasing production without the need for increased inputs.
	Decisions about the use of GM crops are, of course, a matter for developing country Governments to take.
	 1 Source:
	ISAAA, "Global Status of Commercialized Transgenic Crops: 2003"

Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what contracts have been placed by (a) the United States of America, (b) the United Kingdom and (c) other countries and institutions for the clearing of unexploded ordnance in Iraq; what the values of these contracts are; whom they are with; what the requirements are for which the contractors are being paid; whether sub-contracting to do the actual clearance work is provided for in the main contracts; what relationship is expected between the contractors and military forces stationed in the country, non-governmental organisations and Iraqis; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: DFID is supporting de-mining and the clearance of unexploded ordnance in Iraq both through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the UN.
	DFID has signed contracts with the NGO Mines Advisory Group for work in northern Iraq (£781,639) and southern Iraq (£1,201,263). These contracts cover direct de-mining activities utilising a combination of expatriate staff and locally recruited de-miners.
	In addition, DFID has funded humanitarian mine action through the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS). The total provided to UNMAS is £4,357,358, including a grant of £357,358 for the purchase of plastic explosives for use in unexploded ordnance disposal. UNMAS has subcontracted the actual de-mining under these contracts to a number of international NGOs and commercial de-mining companies.
	DFID expects the relationship between NGO contractors, commercial de-miners and the military to be one of close cooperation. On the military side, relevant engineer specialists of the British Battle Group have been particularly involved in this. We also encourage a focus on capacity building of Iraqi de-miners as much as possible.
	Information on de-mining work funded by the US, including the establishment a 110-strong 'Iraqi Mine/UXO Clearance' NGO, can be found at www.cpa-iraq.org/pressreleases/20031213a mines.htm.

IT Companies (Working Conditions)

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he is taking to encourage IT firms to ensure that all their sub-contractors in developing countries provided decent working conditions for their employees; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: The Government's commitment to supporting improvements in labour standards is firmly based on the International Labour Organisations' Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the core labour standards that it incorporates. The Government calls on IT firms and other businesses sourcing goods from developing countries to follow the OECD Guidelines for National Enterprise, which set out principles for responsible business conduct including labour standards.
	Effective and well-judged implementation of labour standards can play an important part in the reduction of global poverty by promoting broad based economic, social and political development. The Government supports initiatives that promote corporate social responsibility in ways that reduce poverty and support growth. The Department for International Development is providing practical support to the development of socially responsible business practice through the Ethical Trading Initiative. This is an alliance of business, trade unions and non-governmental organisations committed to improving working conditions in the supply chains of its corporate members. DFID helped to establish the ETI in 1998 and our current partnership is worth £1,300,000 over three years.

Middle East

Brian Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans his Department has to assist economic development in the Middle East.

Hilary Benn: Promoting economic growth that benefits all people in a sustainable way is one of four objectives of our Regional Assistance Plan for the Middle East and North Africa. It is also a primary objective of our Interim Country Assistance Plan for Iraq. Copies of both papers have been placed in the Library of the House of Commons. We are working with the European Commission to help improve the effectiveness of their programmes in the region, for example by funding studies to help them strengthen trade links and private sector development. We strongly support European Investment Bank efforts to assist small and medium-sized enterprises, which are engines of growth in the region.
	In Iraq, we are providing technical expertise in economic transition to the Coalition Provisional Authority, strengthening economic management capacity within Iraqi ministries, and supporting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. We also provide bilateral assistance to Yemen and Palestine, some of which has a specific focus on economic development. Most recently, we have been working closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and HM Treasury to help develop plans for the G8 group of countries and the EC to further promote economic development in the region.

North Korea

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the scale of the movement of refugees from North Korea to China since 1995.

Hilary Benn: There is no accurate figure of the number of North Koreans in China because they tend to remain hidden for fear of discovery and repatriation to North Korea. Estimates vary greatly. The Ministry of Reunification in South Korea estimates that there are 10,000 long-term migrants in China. Some NGO groups estimate there are 300,000 North Koreans in China, based on surveys of villages in the border region.
	The Chinese Government says that, by United Nations definitions, North Koreans who enter China illegally are economic migrants, not refugees. The UK regularly raises the question of North Korean border crossers at our biannual UK/China Human Rights Dialogue.

North Korea

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on his policy on development aid to North Korea.

Hilary Benn: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not give development assistance to North Korea; nor do we have any plans to start a bilateral programme there. DFID policy is to focus its human and financial resources on a manageable number of key country programmes where the UK has comparative advantage and expertise.
	Since 1997, DFID has provided £3,298,000 in humanitarian assistance to North Korea. Most recently, DFID approved a grant of £1,023,000 to support UNICEF's work in 2004, in primary health care (including provision of essential medical supplies such as vaccinations) and improvements to the water and sanitation systems. In 2002–03 DFID provided £200,000 to the International Federation of the Red Cross for its flood prevention work, and in 2001–02 the Federation also received £75,000 for emergency assistance to flood victims and £800,000 to support the health care system through the distribution of drugs and basic medical equipment. In the same year, DFID channelled £1,200,000 through the United Nations Children Fund to support its primary health care programme.

North Korea

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of energy supplies in North Korea; and what steps his Department is taking to improve them.

Hilary Benn: Insufficient energy supplies impact on the humanitarian crisis in North Korea. Power shortages prevent effective operation of water pumping stations, thereby reducing the overall supply of water. The diminishing supplies of fuel wood compounds this problem as families are unable to boil water before use, which in turn increases the prevalence of water borne diseases and diarrhoea and malnutrition worde. Fuel wood is also used for heating and cooking.
	Nevertheless, energy is only one factor in the overall humanitarian crisis in North Korea, and the Department for International Development seeks to target its assistance in a way that will have the greatest impact. DFID is currently supporting the strengthening of water and sanitation, health care and disaster mitigation. This approach is in accordance with our assessment of the situation and follows discussions with the United Nations Resident Representative for North Korea.

North Korea

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much emergency (a) medical and (b) food aid was provided by the United Kingdom to North Korea in each of the last 10 years.

Hilary Benn: The financial figures available go back as far as 1996, when the United Kingdom gave £23,907 to Save the Children and the World Food Programme (WFP) for a nutrition assessment, £100,000 to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) for the procurement and distribution of food for those still dependent on food aid following the 1995 flood, and another £100,000 for supplementary food for flood victims. The WFP also received £100,000 for supplementary food and project management costs for flood victims.
	In 1997 we provided £80,000 to the IFRC for relief to provinces affected by floods following a tidal wave, and a further £495,000 for supplementary food needs for 139,000 beneficiaries.
	In 1999 the Department for International Development (DFID) provided £131,459 to a pilot project run by CONCERN to increase food security and channelled £200,000 through World Vision to improve food security and promote sound agricultural practices, £120,000 through Save the Children to improve nutrition and early childhood development at national and village level, £158,437 through Oxfam to treat the public water supply in order to reduce the prevalence of water-born diseases and £625,000 to the United Nations Development Programme for its Geographic Information System and policy reform work including a micro-credit system.
	In 2000, DFID provided £50,000 to the IFRC for emergency assistance to storm victims.
	In 2001–02 DFID provided £1,200,000 to support UNICEF's primary health care programme, as well as £75,000 to the IFRC for emergency assistance to flood victims and £800,000 for its programme to support the health care system through the distribution of drugs and basic medical equipment.
	In 2002–03 The Department provided £200,000 to the IFRC for its flood prevention work and recently approved a grant of £1,023,000 to support UNICEF's work, in 2004, in primary health care, including improvements to the water and sanitation systems as well as essential medical supplies such as vaccinations.
	It should be noted that the European Commission provided approximately £37.5 million in humanitarian assistance to North Korea since 1995, of which the UK has contribution is around £6.4 million.

North Korea

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of food supplies in North Korea; and what steps his Department is taking to improve them.

Hilary Benn: Owing to the environment of secrecy and restrictions on agencies operating there, it is difficult to be certain of figures regarding the situation in North Korea. A joint study between the Government and the United Nations Children's Fund showed that 42 per cent. suffer from chronic, or stunting malnutrition and 9 per cent. of the population suffer acute malnutrition (compared with 16 per cent. of children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that the North Korean food output falls short of need by 944 thousand tonnes.
	While significant improvements in nutrition rates have been observed through food aid and improved harvests, the international response has been marked by breaks in supply that leave aid beneficiaries vulnerable. Following a recent delay, food distribution has restarted and all but 600,000 core beneficiaries will receive cereal rations up until June.
	It is important to tackle the problem of malnutrition through a balanced approach to its causes. Both DFID and the European Commission Humanitarian Office, are concerned that food aid currently accounts for 90 to 95 per cent. of requested assistance, while poor water and sanitation increases the prevalence of water-born diseases and diarrhoea, which in turn worsens malnutrition. A significant proportion of the population of 22 million have poor quality water and sanitation and only 52 per cent. have access to safe drinking water.
	DFID has recently agreed to provide £1.023 million in support of UNICEF's work in water, sanitation and primary health care (e.g. vaccinations and other essential medical supplies).
	The European Commission is funding targeted food aid through the WFP and other organisations. In January it agreed to give 5 million Euros. The UK contributed £3,338,000 to this.

North Korea

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions she has had with the Government of North Korea about its plans to install (a) broadband, (b) internet technology and (c) mobile phone networks.

Mike O'Brien: None.

TRANSPORT

Air Passengers (Firearms)

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what rules apply to passengers transporting guns on air journeys (a) departing from, (b) arriving at and (c) passing through British airports.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 1 March 2004
	Passengers must surrender firearms or any dangerous articles before entering the restricted zone (RZ) of the airport and cannot regain possession of them in circumstances which would enable them or others to take them onto an aircraft or undermine the security of the airport. Thus departing passengers must surrender any firearms they wish to transport to airport or airline staff prior to undergoing security screening and entering the RZ. Arriving passengers are handed back firearms upon completion of their journey in the presence of a Customs Official or police officer. Transit and transfer passengers do not regain possession of their weapons in the RZ.
	HM Customs and Excise are responsible for the checking of firearms licenses and certificates at the airport.

Chorley Railway Station

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much the Government are contributing towards improving Chorley Railway Station.

Tony McNulty: Chorley Station is benefiting from £137,000 of grant through the "Rail Passenger Partnership" scheme, administered by the Strategic Rail Authority.

Heathrow

Michael Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many aircraft movements there were in each period from November to October since 1980 at Heathrow.

Kim Howells: The available information is as follows:
	
		Air transport movements (ATMs)(2) at Heathrow airport: calendar years 1980 to 2002 -- Thousand
		
			  ATMs 
		
		
			 1980 277 
			 1981 250 
			 1982 255 
			 1983 265 
			 1984 278 
			 1985 288 
			 1986 294 
			 1987 308 
			 1988 330 
			 1989 347 
			 1990 368 
			 1991 362 
			 1992 388 
			 1993 396 
			 1994 409 
			 1995 419 
			 1996 427 
			 1997 429 
			 1998 441 
			 1999 449 
			 2000 460 
			 2001 458 
			 2002 460 
			 2003(3) 420 
		
	
	(2) All scheduled movements (whether loaded or empty) and loaded charter movements, but excluding empty positioning flights by scheduled aircraft, and empty charter movements.
	(3) January to November 2003.
	Source:
	Civil Aviation Authority.

Local Government Finance

Jim Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what grants were awarded to local authorities in Dorset by his Department in financial year 2003–04 that fall outside the revenue support grant.

Tony McNulty: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right. hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government and the Regions (Mr. Raynsford) on 1 March 2004, Official Report, column 750W.

Lorry Road User Charge

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received on the net cost to hauliers of the introduction of the Lorry Road User Charge; and if he will make a statement.

David Jamieson: The Government have established a Lorry Road User Charge sub-group of the Road Haulage Forum, through which it conducts a dialogue with representatives of the haulage industry on a wide range of issues relating to the development and introduction of a charging scheme.
	The Government have made clear their intention that the Lorry Road User Charge will be broadly revenue neutral for the UK haulage industry. That position has not changed. The extra revenue raised through the charge will be offset by reductions in fuel duty.

M1

Tony Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what further developments are planned to improve the (a) safety and (b) capacity of (i) junctions and (ii) carriageways on the M1 between junctions 15 and 16 to cope with the increase in traffic use arising from the Milton Keynes/Northampton sustainable communities plan.

David Jamieson: We have no current plans for major improvements to this section of the M1. Following publication of the draft Milton Keynes and South Midlands (MKSM) Sub-Regional Strategy, the Highways Agency, together with the three affected Regional Assemblies, looked at the strategic transport impacts of the growth proposals on the highway network. Their report has been put in the Library for the public examination of the MKSM Sub-Regional Strategy which begins on 23 March 2004. We will respond to the findings of the public examination in due course.

M1

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what reasons carriageway closures are in place between junction 1 and junction 2 of the M1 motorway; when this stretch of motorway was last subject to carriageway closures; and for what reasons these works and those previously undertaken were not carried out at the same time.

Kim Howells: The M1 between junctions 1 and 2 is currently being resurfaced because the road surface is coming to the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced. The opportunity is also being taken to carry out other major repairs to the infrastructure along this stretch of the motorway.
	This section was last subject to significant carriageway closures at the end of 2001 for essential repairs to lighting columns and for advance drainage works in preparation for the current resurfacing scheme. A period of time was needed on this project between drainage works and resurfacing to allow the ground to dry out and settle.

M6

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the purpose of the planned four-lane M6.

David Jamieson: The West Midlands to North West Multi-Modal Study produced a long-term strategy for the M6 corridor aimed at improving road, rail and other public transport links within the corridor over the next 20 to 30 years. The study clearly demonstrated that some road widening is a necessary component of a strategy aimed at tackling congestion on the M6 motorway. The Secretary of State confirmed his support for the study's recommendation, including widening the motorway from dual 3 to dual 4 lanes between junctions 11a and 19, in his announcement of December 2002.

Ministerial Speeches

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many speeches he made between 9 June 2003 and 1 February 2004; and where a copy of each speech can be obtained.

Tony McNulty: The Secretary of State has made speeches on a range of transport issues, many of which are available on the departmental website at www.dft.gov.uk.

PowerShift Project

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the PowerShift project; and if he will make a statement.

Kim Howells: The PowerShift programme, which provides grants to encourage the purchase of low emission vehicles, has had its most successful year to date in 2003–04, with all the funding being fully committed. It is estimated that the programme will support the purchase/conversion of 4,200 vehicles in 2003–04 compared with a total of 2,139 in 2002–03 (figures from the Energy Saving Trust).

PowerShift Project

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the status of the PowerShift project is; how many new applications have been processed this year; how many new applications are being dealt with; and if he will make a statement.

Kim Howells: The PowerShift programme will begin accepting applications for 2004–05 shortly. The Energy Saving Trust expects to process applications for 4,200 vehicles in 2003–04. We expect applications to continue at a high level next year.

Road Transport Directive

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he plans to publish the draft regulations implementing the Road Transport Directive.

David Jamieson: We expect to publish the draft regulations implementing the Road Transport Directive by the end of May. My officials are currently analysing responses from our consultation exercise and the results of this will be published shortly.

Speed Cameras

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many challenges there have been to speed camera fines in the last 12 months.

David Jamieson: I am advised by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary that information is not held centrally on the number of people prosecuted for speeding offences who elect to challenge a fixed penalty notice.

Speed Cameras

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the costs were of (a) purchasing and (b) operating speed cameras in Essex in each of the last six (i) financial and (ii) calendar years for which figures are available.

David Jamieson: holding answer 3 February 2004
	We do not hold information centrally on the costs of local and police authorities' camera operations prior to the establishment of the Safety Camera Programme in April 2000. The information on the costs of the Essex Partnership for 2000–01 and 2001–02, which is compiled by financial year, is in the following table. Capital expenditure includes the purchase of camera equipment. Revenue expenditure covers the cost of administration of the prosecution process by conditional offer fixed penalty.
	
		£
		
			  2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 Essex   
			 Capital 612,027 1,036,298 
			 Revenue 1,234,453 2,967,465 
			 Total 1,846,480 3,003,763 
		
	
	The figures for 2002–03 will be contained in the report of the third year of the safety camera cost recovery scheme, which is to be published shortly. The results of the two-year trial of the programme demonstrate that safety cameras, covering sites with known problems of speed-related accidents, reduce collisions and road injuries. The third-year report will update the data on the road safety benefits of safety cameras.

Speed Cameras

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will take steps to remove speed cameras from non-hazardous sections of road.

David Jamieson: The rules of the Safety Camera Programme require Partnerships to place cameras at sites or on routes with a history of speed related accidents, to review their sites regularly and to adjust enforcement strategies accordingly.

CABINET OFFICE

Ministerial Travel

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the Ministers who have travelled to Big Conversation meetings in their ministerial cars.

Douglas Alexander: I refer the honourable Gentleman to the answer provided by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 4 December 2003, Official Report, column 113W. Guidance on the use of official cars is set out in "Travel by Ministers". Detailed information relating to the use of cars by individual Ministers is not held centrally.

Civil Service Bill

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps are being taken to introduce a Civil Service Bill in this session of Parliament.

Douglas Alexander: I refer the hon. Gentleman to my statement of 21 January 2004, Official Report, columns 1341–49.

Departmental Buildings

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many of the buildings for which his Office has responsibility are vacant.

Douglas Alexander: The Cabinet Office is responsible for one office building that is currently vacant, and for which the lease expires in December 2004. There is one small residential property on the Centre for Management and Policy Studies' Sunningdale Park site that is also currently vacant.

Local Government Finance

Jim Knight: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what grants were awarded to local authorities in Dorset by his Department in financial year 2003–04 that fall outside the revenue support grant.

Douglas Alexander: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr. Raynsford) on 1 March 2004, Official Report column 750W.

Online Services

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which Government services are available online.

Douglas Alexander: Departments report quarterly to the Office of the e-Envoy (OeE) on the progress made towards getting their services available online. Details of the services that are currently available online are published on the OeE website. The URL for the most recently published data is: http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/00/62/72/04006272.rtf

Public Appointments

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many appointments to public bodies were of people with party political affiliations in each of the last three years; and what those appointments were.

Douglas Alexander: Details of the number of appointments and re-appointments to public bodies of people who have declared political activity are published in the Commissioner for Public Appointments Annual Report. Summary details for the last three years are:
	
		
			  Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats Other(4) Total 
		
		
			 2000–01  
			 Number 150 452 79 55 736 
			 Percentage 3.9 11.7 2.0 1.4 19.0 
			   
			 2001–02  
			 Number 94 502 87 44 727 
			 Percentage 2.7 14.3 2.5 1.3 20.7 
			   
			 2002–03  
			 Number 111 407 74 55 647 
			 Percentage 3.2 11.7 2.1 1.6 18.6 
		
	
	(4) Other includes Plaid Cymru, Scottish National Party, Northern Ireland political parties, Green Party, independents etc.
	The term political activity encompasses activity, undertaken on behalf of a political party or candidate, that is already in the public domain. Examples include standing for political office, acting as a political agent or canvassing on behalf of a political party. Information on political affiliation is not collected.
	Neither political activity (nor political affiliation) is a criterion for appointment, except in a very few number of cases where statute dictates specific representation. Details of an individual's declared political activity is published with the announcement of the appointment by the relevant sponsoring department. This information is not held centrally.

Special Advisers

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many special advisers occupy offices maintained at public expense.

Douglas Alexander: At 1 March, there were 77 special advisers in post.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Animal Testing

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many animals will be tested as a result of the proposed EU REACH legislation on chemicals; and if she will set out the basis for her estimate.

Alun Michael: The EU proposal on REACH requires information to be gathered on chemicals in order to provide the basis for protecting human health and the environment. This information may come from a number of sources, one of which is animal testing. The Commission has estimated that this draft Regulation will require data to be gathered on approximately 30,000 chemicals. Of these, 20,000 are thought to be produced or imported in quantities of less than 10 tonnes. At this tonnage the current Commission proposal requires 25 animals per chemical. It should be remembered that in most cases the tests are expected to demonstrate that the chemical concerned is safe and therefore involves no threat to humans or animals.
	The Commission proposal would require further data as tonnage increases to reflect the greater potential human and environmental exposure. Under a worst case scenario, over 1,500 animals may be needed per chemical for those produced at over 1,000 tonnes (estimated from the testing requirements of the Regulation and OECD guidelines). The tests performed need to comply with the relevant requirements for the protection of laboratory animals set out in Directive 86/609/EEC where, among other things, methods used must be refined in such a way as to minimise the amount of suffering caused to the animals concerned. Further, the chemical industry already has some of this data and there are other sources of information such as modelling of data and grouping of chemicals to read-across data from one chemical to another, all of which will reduce the amount of new testing that will be required. If recent experience from a major testing programme in the USA were to be duplicated in Europe, the number of new animal tests that will need to be undertaken will be significantly lower than the number given above.
	It is an overall objective, for the UK Government, in negotiating this Regulation, to ensure that animal testing is kept to the minimum necessary to protect human health and the environment. One of the ways we aim to do this is by applying an intelligent approach to testing.

Agriculture and Fisheries Council

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made with the renegotiation of the December Fisheries Council; and whether the issue of the impact of force majeure on days at sea has been addressed.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 27 February 2004
	The Government has been pressing the European Commission to bring forward urgently amendments to the haddock permit scheme agreed at the December Fisheries Council. We expect to receive a proposal from the Commission for such changes in the next few days. We have also pressed the Commission to add a force majeure provision to the measure for limiting fishing effort. We understand that the Commission are sympathetic to inserting such a provision into the legislation.

Animal By-Products Regulations

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 12 February 2004, Official Report, column 1558W, on Animal By-products Regulations, what assessment has been made of whether adequate protection from rodents and birds might be achieved using suitable netting instead of solid walls in intermediate reception centres.

Ben Bradshaw: One of the requirements of the Regulation is that Intermediate Plants must have appropriate arrangements for protection against pests such as insects, rodents and birds. While netting may offer adequate protection against birds, it is not clear how it could offer sufficient protection against insects and rodents. However, we are prepared to consider in individual circumstances if an operator can demonstrate that it does offer such protection.

Animal Welfare

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will respond to the Farm Animal Welfare Council report of June 2003 on welfare at slaughter; and if she will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: We expect to issue shortly for public consultation our draft response to the Farm Animal Welfare Council's report on the welfare of red meat animals at slaughter or killing. The public consultation exercise will be widely publicised. Allowing time for comments to be considered, we expect to issue the final response document around the middle of the year.

Animal Welfare

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what position her Department is taking in discussions within the European Union on maximum journey times for animals destined for slaughter.

Ben Bradshaw: At the 24 February Agriculture Council the Secretary of State confirmed the Government's preference for replacing the long distance transport of animals for slaughter with a trade in meat. Until that can be achieved journey times for slaughter animals should be reduced, taking account of animal husbandry and geography.

Animal Welfare

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the levels of antibiotics being fed to animals; and what the figures were 10 years ago.

Ben Bradshaw: There are no comprehensive figures available on the usage of veterinary antibiotics in the UK. However since 1998 the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) has published figures on the annual UK sales of all veterinary antimicrobial products from 1993 onwards. These have been published in a series of five reports, the most recent of which, published in November 2003, details reported sales between 1998 and 2002. All of these reports are available on the VMD website (www.vmd.gov.uk) or as hard copy direct from the VMD. It is generally accepted that the pattern of reported sales of veterinary antimicrobials directly relates to the pattern of their usage in the UK.
	Due to a change in the methodology VMD used to calculate these figures, reported sales before 1998 are not directly comparable with those after 1998. However taken as a whole these figures provide a baseline of sales of antimicrobials over a 10-year reporting period. They show that over the last 10 years the total reported sales of therapeutic antimicrobials have remained broadly constant (ranging between 392 tonnes and 495 tonnes of active ingredient) except for a peak in 1996 (553 tonnes). Total reported sales in 2002 amounted to 457 tonnes of active ingredient, a slight reduction from 2001 (459 tonnes) and 2000 (462 tonnes).
	Reported sales of antimicrobial growth promoters have reduced from their peak of 122 tonnes in 1995 to between 23 tonnes (1999) and 46 tonnes (1998) of active ingredient over the last five years. (It is known that there are some missing data for some years so changes may not be as significant as they appear.) This reduction probably partly reflects a reduction since 1999 in the number of active ingredients authorised for use as antimicrobial growth promoters. Reported sales in 2002 amounted to 27 tonnes, compared to 43 tonnes in 2001.

Animal Welfare

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation prohibits (i) a farmer and (ii) any other person from (A) purchasing, (B) transporting, (C) owning and (D) being legally responsible for the welfare of farm animals in circumstances where they have previous convictions for mistreating farm animals; and if she will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: Section 3 of the Protection of Animals Act 1911 allows a court to disqualify a person convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal from having custody of any animal for such a period as it thinks fit. This can mean a lifetime ban from keeping animals. This legislation applies equally to farmers and other persons responsible for looking after animals.
	Article 9 and Schedule 12 of The Welfare of Animals (Transport) Order 1997, as amended, set down the conditions under which authorisations may be granted for the transport of animals. In considering whether an applicant is a fit person to hold an authorisation the Minister may have regard to any relevant circumstances, including any offences involving animal welfare.
	We are considering a new system of three tiers of offences under the proposed Animal Welfare Bill. The most serious offence would refer to those involved in the fighting of animals, the second would maintain the current offence of cruelty, whilst the third would impose a statutory duty to promote the welfare of animals kept by man. In addition, we intend to increase the effectiveness of the courts' power to disqualify.

Livestock Movements

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will lift the six-day rule which applies to auction marts and slaughterhouses.

Ben Bradshaw: Livestock moving to auction markets and slaughterhouses do not trigger a six-day standstill on arrival.

Livestock Movements

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many calves have been refused passports because they have not been registered within 27 days in each of the last three years.

Alun Michael: The number of passports refused over the last three years because of late registration has been:
	
		
			  Total passport applications received Passports initially refused as late Passports issued after appeal Net passports refused 
		
		
			 2001 2,998,238 2,035 775 1,260 
			 2002 2,885,188 1,011 646 365 
			 2003 2,952,404 3,982 570 3,412

Cetaceans

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what projections she has made of the future population of (a) dolphins and (b) porpoises within (i) British waters and (ii) European Union waters; and if she will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: The Secretary of State has made no projections to date on the future populations of dolphins and porpoises in British and European Union waters.
	However, the Government is supporting new survey work to be undertaken in 2004–05 by a consortium of international researchers, co-ordinated by the Sea Mammal Research Unit, on the distribution and abundance of small cetaceans—particularly harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and common dolphins (Delphinus delphis)—in the shelf waters of the Atlantic margin, the North Sea and adjacent waters. This work will include the development of methods of monitoring abundance and identifying population trends between major decadal surveys, and recommendations for monitoring protocols by individual species and areas.
	International funding is being sought in support of this work and the UK has pledged £275,000 towards it.

Cetaceans

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the (a) dolphin and (b) porpoise populations within (i) British waters and (ii) European Union waters; what the estimate was for these species 20 years ago; and if she will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: Obtaining population estimates for cetaceans is difficult. There is a wide margin of error around most abundance estimates and the geographical limits of most biological populations of dolphin species are not known.
	To date, major surveys of cetacean distribution or abundance have not been carried out at regular intervals. The following table gives figures from the 2002 report of the Advisory Committee on Ecosystems of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) illustrating the latest information on the populations and abundance of small cetaceans occurring in UK waters. The populations are given in terms of ICES areas or geographical locality. A map showing the ICES areas has been placed in the Libraries of the House.
	A consortium of international researchers, co-ordinated by the Sea Mammal Research Unit, is planning to carry out a survey of the distribution and abundance of small cetaceans—particularly harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and common dolphins (Delphinus delphis)—in 2004–05. The survey area is intended to cover the shelf waters of the Atlantic margin, the North Sea and adjacent waters. International funding is being sought in support of this work and the UK has already pledged £275,000 towards it.
	Reliable estimates for dolphin abundance in British and European Union waters in 1984 are not available.
	
		2002 Report of the Advisory Committee on Ecosystems of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)
		
			 Species Year ICES Area or geographical locality Abundance estimate 95 per cent. Confidence limits Method Reference 
		
		
			 Harbour porpoise 
			 1994 IVa 98,564 66,679–145,697 Ship-based line transect Hammond et al., 2002 
			  IVb+c 169,888 124,121–232,530   
			  Vllf+g+h+j 36,280 12,828–102,604   
			 Bottlenose dolphin 
			 1992 Moray Firth (southwestern lVa) 129 110–174 Photographic mark-recap Photographic identification or direct observation. Wilson et al, 1999  
			 2001 French coasts Vile Villa 250–300 n/a  ICES, 2002 
			 1991–1993 Cornwall 15 n/a  ICES, 1996  
			 1994–1995 Dorset 5 n/a   
			 2001 Cardigan Bay, Wales 135 85–214  White and Webb, 1995 Baines et al.,2002 
			   213 183–279 Ship-based line transect 
			  White-beaked and Atlantic white-sided dolphins 
			 1994 IVa 1,685 690–4,113 Ship-based line transect Hammond et al., 2002 
			  IVb 9,242 5,344–15,981   
			  VIIf+g+h+j 833 159–4,360   
			  Atlantic white-sided dolphin 
			 1998 Faroes-Shetland channel 21,371 10,000–45,000 Ship-based line transect Macleod, 2001 
			 1998 V1a (N) 74,626 35,000–160,000   
			 2000 Parts of V1 a&b V11 b/c, V11j&k 5,490 1,134–10,015  O'Cadhla et al., 2001 
			 Common dolphin 
			 1994 Vllf+g+h+j parts of VI a&b 75,449 22,900–284,900 Ship-based line transect Hammond et al., 2002 
			 2000 VII b/c, Vllj&k 4,496 2,414–9,320  O'Cadhla et al., 2001  
			 1993 Bay of Biscay 61,888 35,461–108,010  Goujon et al, 1993 
			 Striped dolphin 
			 1993 Bay of Biscay 73,843 36,113–150,990 Ship-based line transect Goujon et al., 1993

Country Code

Peter Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress her Department is making on its revision of the Country Code; and whether the revised code will require dogs to be kept on a short fixed lead (a) near livestock and (b) during the bird breeding season on land to which the statutory rights of access to open country under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 applies.

Alun Michael: The duty to issue a code of conduct for the guidance of persons visiting the countryside lies statutorily with the Countryside Agency. The agency has been consulting widely on proposals for updating the code, which was last revised in 1981. The agency aims to publish a new code in the summer, which will include general guidance on legal responsibilities regarding dogs. The code will not introduce any new responsibilities.
	The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 itself requires people exercising the new right of access to keep dogs on short leads when in the vicinity of livestock, and on all access land between 1 March and 31 July. The Act also provides for local restrictions on dogs, including bans, where necessary, and allows landowners to exclude dogs for up to six weeks in any one year from fields or enclosures where lambing is taking place and for up to five years from land managed for the breeding and shooting of grouse.
	The Countryside Agency has been seeking views on meeting its obligations under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to provide guidance for people using the new right of access and for people with an interest in land to which the new right applies. Information about the statutory requirements relating to dogs will be included in communications with the public when the new right of access is introduced.

Horses and Ponies

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  how many equines were slaughtered for human consumption in England in each year since 2000, broken down by type;
	(2)  how many tonnes of horsemeat were (a) produced in England and (b) exported from England in each year since 2000;
	(3)  how many tonnes of horsemeat were imported into the UK in each year since 2000;
	(4)  how many horses were exported from the UK to the EU in each year since 2000;
	(5)  how many horses, intended for slaughter, were exported from the UK to the EU in each year since 2000; and how many horses were exported to countries outside the EU;
	(6)  how many horses that were not intended for human consumption were slaughtered in the UK in each year since 2000.

Alun Michael: The information requested is given in the following table:
	
		UK production and trade in horses and horsemeat 2000–03
		
			  2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Equines slaughtered (units—England) 9,112 10,479 8,284 6,727 
			 for human consumption n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 not for human consumption n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			  
			 Horsemeat production (tonnes) n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			  
			 Horsemeat (tonnes) 
			 Imports 
			 From: 
			 the EU 0 6 0 0 
			 the rest of the world 0 0 0 0 
			 Exports 
			 To: 
			 the EU 2,857 2,417 2,022 1,566 
			 the rest of the world 0 0 0 0 
			  
			 Horses (units) 
			 Imports 
			 Of which: 
			 Pure-bred breeding horses 
			 the EU 4,163 1,733 1,902 2,234 
			 the rest of the world 1,104 835 715 728 
			  
			 Horses for slaughter 
			 the EU — — — — 
			 the rest of the world — — — — 
			  
			 Horses other than for slaughter 
			 the EU 503 1,986 383 286 
			 the rest of the world 147 48 183 190 
			  
			 Exports 
			 Of which: 
			 Pure-bred breeding horses 
			 the EU 1,641 1,714 1,392 2,041 
			 the rest of the world 934 842 1,088 2,223 
			  
			 Horses for slaughter 
			 the EU — — — — 
			 the rest of the world — — — — 
			 Horses other than for slaughter 
			 the EU 1,572 1,292 662 1,555 
			 the rest of the world 695 375 364 338 
		
	
	Source
	H M Customs and Excise
	Data prepared by Statistics (Commodities & Food) Consultancy Trade and IT, ESD, DEFRA
	2003 EU data is provisional and subject to amendment

Horses and Ponies

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  which EU Directive or Regulation requires horse traceability for disease surveillance purposes;
	(2)  what recent discussions she has had with the EU about disease surveillance in horses.

Alun Michael: There is currently no requirement in European legislation for a horse traceability system for disease surveillance purposes, but both the Government and the horse industry consider that there is a need for a national equine database. Defra is therefore working with the industry to set up such a database that will help to implement the horse passports requirements, and underpin economic and animal health and welfare strategies for the horse and its role within the rural economy.

Horses and Ponies

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost to the Department of implementing the minimum values legislation was in each of the last three years.

Alun Michael: The cost to the Department of horse and pony export licensing (commonly referred to as the minimum values legislation) in England during the last three financial years was:
	
		£
		
			  Amount 
		
		
			  
			  
			 2000–01 41,643 
			 2001–02 39,705 
			 2002–03 43,374

Illegal Imports

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has for the establishment of a single agency to address legal and illegal imports of food.

Ben Bradshaw: In its response to the Reports of the Foot and Mouth Disease inquiries in November 2002, the Government said that there was a case for a single agency to oversee all aspects of the management of the legal trade in imported foodstuffs, but that we would first aim to secure a step change in the co-ordination and delivery of local authority inspection of imported foodstuffs and products of animal origin within one year. We will review the first year's program with the step change project, which has been co-ordinated by the Food Standards Agency and in the light of that consider the case for an agency later in the Spring.
	Responsibility for anti-smuggling checks on illegal imports of food was transferred to HM Customs and Excise in April 2003. The Government have no plans for changes in those responsibilities.

Illegal Imports

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the effectiveness of local authorities in the detection of illegal meat imports that have evaded customs and border inspections.

Ben Bradshaw: Local authorities have made and continue to make seizures of products of animal origin inland. Central records do not differentiate between legitimate imports which now fail to meet relevant regulations, shipments that have entered the EU through other member states and any that may have evaded customs and border inspections in the UK.

Illegal Imports

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will report to Parliament on the progress of the illegal meat strategy.

Ben Bradshaw: Progress against the Government's Action plan on illegal imports in 2002–03 is reported in the Annual Review of controls on imports of Animal Products. Copies have been placed in House Libraries.
	The 2003–04 Action Plan is appended to the Review, and we are working with HM Customs and other responsible parties to implement it. Progress will be reported in the second annual report which will be published in early Summer.

Illegal Meat Imports

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment has been made of the sufficiency of resources allocated to HM Customs and Excise to address illegal meat imports and of how they compare with those of its equivalent in other European countries.

Ben Bradshaw: We have almost doubled the amount of funding available to HMCE in 04/05 to put more resources into addressing illegal imports of meat, fish, plants, and their products. We do not have details of what resources other EU countries have in place but know that the UK is viewed as being more advanced in this area.

Illegal Meat Imports

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what role her Department has played in tackling the import of illegal meat.

Ben Bradshaw: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is responsible for policy issues relating to imports of products of animal origin and plant and plant products.
	HM Customs and Excise are responsible for enforcement at points of entry to the UK and local authorities are responsible for enforcement inland.
	We continue to liaise closely with HM Customs and Excise and the Food Standards Agency to ensure a coherent approach in tackling illegal imports.

Illegal Meat Imports

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  whether the Ad Hoc Ministerial Group 23 will consult organisations outside Government when undertaking the review of Step Change;
	(2)  if she will ask Ad Hoc Ministerial Group 23 to broaden the scope of the review into Step Change to include a review into the effectiveness of the Government's illegal meat strategy;
	(3)  when Ad Hoc Ministerial Group 23 has met; and if she will publish the minutes and agenda;
	(4)  if she will list the members of Ad Hoc Ministerial Group 23; and what its remit is.

Ben Bradshaw: The Ministerial Committee on Illegal Imports (Misc 23) was established by the Prime Minister in July 2003 to co-ordinate policy on imports of animals, plants, fish and their products. It is composed of the following members:
	Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Chair)
	Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
	Economic Secretary
	Minister of State, Home Office (Beverley Hughes)
	Minister of State, Department for Transport
	Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)
	Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Health (Melanie Johnson)
	Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Lord Mclntosh)
	Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Phil Hope)
	The Chairman of the Food Standards Agency is invited to attend.
	It has been established practice under successive Governments not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees. This practice is now formalised by Exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Knackeries/Hunt Kennels

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  how many knackeries were licensed in the UK in each year since 2000;
	(2)  how many hunt kennels were licensed in the UK in each year since 2000.

Ben Bradshaw: Prior to the Animal By-Products Regulations 2003, which came into force on 1 July 2003, Knackers' Yards required approval under the Animal By-Products Order 1999. Hunt Kennels required registration under the Order.
	In June 2003, before the Animal By-Products Order was revoked, there were 73 approved Knackers' Yards and 293 registered Hunt Kennels. We do not have a breakdown of how many were approved in each year.

Motor Cycling

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures are being taken to prevent unauthorised off-road motor cycling.

Alun Michael: The Forestry Commission and Countryside Council for Wales are jointly organising the Wales Off-road Motorcycle Conference to take place on 6 May. The Conference will consider how best to curtail unlawful off-road motorcycling and how to develop, as an alternative, facilities for motorcycling as a managed outdoor recreational activity.
	In addition, the Government have published a consultation paper setting out its proposals for tackling the problems that can arise through the use of motorcycles and other mechanically propelled vehicles on public rights of way.

Parliamentary Questions

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many parliamentary questions have been tabled to her Department since 1 January 2003, broken down by (a) ordinary written and (b) named day; what precentage in respect of (a) were answered within 10 working days; and what percentage in respect of (b) were answered by the specified date.

Alun Michael: Records for Session 2002–03 were not maintained in such a way to enable the Department to extract the information requested without incurring disproportionate costs.
	However, according to our records Defra received a total of 5,444 parliamentary questions broken down as follows:
	(a) 3,836 were ordinary written;
	(b) 851 were named day.
	To date, in the current parliamentary session we have received a total of 1,784 parliamentary questions, broken down as follows:
	(a) 1,104 were ordinary written, of which 923 were answered within 10 working days which equates to 83.6 per cent;
	(b) 190 were named day and 42 were answered on the specified date which equates to 22.1 per cent.
	Defra endeavours to reply to all parliamentary questions within parliamentary deadlines wherever possible.

Peat

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what steps her Department is taking (a) to collect and (b) to publish data for the regular two-yearly monitoring of the use of peat and peat alternatives;
	(2)  what steps her Department is taking to meet the Biodiversity Action Plan targets for the replacement of peat in the horticulture industry.

Ben Bradshaw: The latest information on monitoring of peat and alternative products for growing media and soil improvers in the UK was published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in 2003. The Department now has responsibility for this issue. We are considering arrangements for a further monitoring exercise later this year with a view to publishing the data in 2005.
	In the meantime we have commissioned ADAS to produce a report which will provide details of the current use of peat and growing media alternatives in the commercial horticulture sector in England.
	The Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is carrying out research into the use of recycled and compost materials in the production of growing media. The research includes a programme of demonstration growing trials across the UK, covering a range of plant types, growing regimes and commercial situations. The growing trials involve trials of peat-free and reduced peat formulations against a standard peat based formulation. It is expected that the results from the research will be published in April this year.

Pollution

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the concentration was of (a) nitrogen dioxide, (b) sulphur dioxide and (c) benzene in each (i) London borough and (ii) London ward in each of the last five years.

Alun Michael: The United Kingdom Automatic Urban and Rural Air Quality Monitoring Network currently has 22 sites in the Greater London area. Annual mean concentrations of each pollutant for each year between 1999 and 2003 for the London boroughs and London wards are given in tables 1, 2 and 3, for nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and benzene, respectively.
	There are a total of 33 boroughs and 785 wards (1991 ward data) in London. For nitrogen dioxide there are currently 16 London boroughs and 19 London wards that have monitoring in the national network. For sulphur dioxide there are currently 10 London boroughs and 13 London wards that have monitoring in the national network. For benzene there are currently four London boroughs and four London wards that have monitoring in the national network. Data from different sites are not necessarily directly comparable due to the different locations of the sites, for example, kerbside, roadside, background and suburban. The data for all the sites within the United Kingdom Automatic Urban and Rural Air Quality Monitoring Network are available from the National Air Quality Information Archive (www.airquality.co.uk).
	In addition, a number of London boroughs carry out independent monitoring which is within the London Air Quality Network. Thirty-one boroughs have nitrogen dioxide monitoring, 26 boroughs have sulphur dioxide monitoring and one borough monitors benzene.
	
		Table 1: Annual mean nitrogen dioxide concentrations at each site in the Automatic Urban and Rural Air Quality Monitoring Network in Greater London in 1999–2003
		
			Highest annual mean nitrogen dioxideconcentration (micrograms per metrecubed) 
			 Sites London borough Ward 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			  
			  
			 West London Kensington and Chelsea Abingdon Ward 55 53 52 46 55 
			 Camden Kerbside Camden Adelaide Ward 66 63 66 66 65 
			 London Marylebone Road City of Westminster Baker Street Ward 91 93 84 81 107 
			 London Bromley Bromley Bickley Ward 65 63 61 41 42 
			 London Bloomsbury Camden Bloomsbury Ward 67 59 51 — — 
			 Hounslow Roadside Hounslow Brentford Clifden Ward 60 52 54 58 — 
			 London Cromwell Road 2 Kensington and Chelsea Brompton Ward 93 88 76 72 76 
			 London Southwark Southwark Browning Ward 56 52 55 47 — 
			 Haringey Roadside Haringey Bruce Grove Ward 51 51 48 46 53 
			 London Sutton Sutton Carshalton Central Ward 34 32 35 — — 
			 Southwark Roadside Southwark Consort Ward — 63 65 58 67 
			 London Hackney Hackney Eastdown Ward 60 51 48 47 50 
			 London Eltham Greenwich Eltham Park Ward 36 33 34 30 38 
			 London Wandsworth Wandsworth Fairfield Ward 51 49 53 52 62 
			 Tower Hamlets Roadside Tower Hamlets Holy Trinity Ward 70 65 69 61 67 
			 London Bexley Bexley North End Ward 37 35 36 31 37 
			 London Lewisham Lewisham Rushey Green Ward 54 — — 50 58 
			 London North Kensington Kensington and Chelsea St. Charles Ward 46 40 42 40 45 
			 London Brent Brent St. Raphael's Ward 37 36 37 29 32 
			 Sutton Roadside Sutton Sutton Central Ward 43 40 44 — — 
			 London Teddington Richmond upon Thames Teddington Ward 32 28 29 25 28 
			 London A3 Roadside Kingston Upon Thames Tolworth South Ward 59 55 54 58 73 
			 London Bridge Place, London Westminster City of Westminster Victoria Ward 63 — — 43 52 
			 London Hillingdon Hillingdon Yiewsley Ward — 48 46 45 54 
		
	
	
		Table 2: Annual mean sulphur dioxide concentrations at each site in the Automatic Urban and Rural Air Quality Monitoring Network in Greater London in 1999–2003
		
			 Highest annual mean sulphur dioxideconcentration (micrograms per metrecubed) 
			 Sites London borough Ward 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			  
			  
			 London Marylebone Road City of Westminster Baker Street Ward 13 15 12 10 12 
			 London Bloomsbury Camden Bloomsbury Ward 13 11 11 7 8 
			 London Cromwell Road 2 Kensington and Chelsea Brompton Ward 12 8 7 7 6 
			 London Southwark Southwark Browning Ward 8 8 9 6 8 
			 Southwark Roadside Southwark Consort Ward 10 5 7 5 6 
			 London Eltham Greenwich Eltham Park Ward 5 6 6 4 5 
			 London Bexley Bexley North End Ward 7 7 7 8 10 
			 London Lewisham Lewisham Rushey Green Ward 8 — — 4 6 
			 London North Kensington Kensington and Chelsea St. Charles Ward 6 6 6 4 5 
			 London Brent Brent St. Raphael's Ward 4 4 4 3 4 
			 Sutton Roadside Sutton Sutton Central Ward 8 9 9 — — 
			 London Teddington Richmond upon Thames Teddington Ward 6 5 5 4 5 
			 London Bridge Place, London Westminster City of Westminster Victoria Ward 7 — — 4 9 
			 London Hillingdon Hillingdon Yiewsley Ward 10 10 9 7 8 
		
	
	
		Table 3: Annual mean benzene concentrations at each site in the Automatic Urban and Rural Air Quality Monitoring Network in Greater London in 1999–2003
		
			 Highest annual mean benzeneconcentration (micrograms per metrecubed) 
			 Sites London borough Ward 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			  
			  
			 London Marylebone Road City of Westminster Baker Street Ward 10.8 6.3 4.5 3.9 3.1 
			 London UCL, London Bloomsbury (pumped tube data)(5) Camden Bloomsbury Ward 3.6 2.1 — — 1.9 
			 London Eltham Greenwich Eltham Park Ward 2.5 1.6 — — — 
			 Haringey Roadside (pumped tube data)(5) Haringey Bruce Grove Ward — — — — 3.0 
		
	
	(5) Pumped tube data are collected using a non-automatic technique.

Fisheries

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to regulate public fisheries.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 27 February 2004
	Fisheries are managed on at a European level under the Common Fisheries Policy, nationally under UK legislation, and within six miles by Sea Fisheries Committees or the Environment Agency.
	There are two major reviews being carried out which could impact on the management of public fisheries; the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit's Review of the UK Fishing Industry and the Defra Review of Marine Fisheries and Environmental Enforcement which is looking specifically at the organisation of enforcement. These Reviews are due to report in the near future and it is possible that their recommendations will lead to changes in current regulations.

Publicity Campaigns

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much (a) her Department and (b) each agency and non-departmental public body sponsored by her Department spent on (i) advertising and (ii) information campaigns in each year since its creation; what her estimate is for 2003–04; and if she will make a statement.

Alun Michael: The Department does not maintain separate records of its expenditure for advertising and information campaigns. The expenditure for publicity by Defra's Communications Directorate, includes marketing, advertising, publications, events, shows and direct mailings, and is recorded for the financial years since Defra's creation in June 2001 as follows.
	
		
			  £ million 
		
		
			 2001–02 6.6 
			 2002–03 4.7 
			 2003–04 (6)3.7 
		
	
	(6) estimate
	This includes communications on a wide range of matters, much of it necessary or beneficial to the public and the wide range of industries in which Defra has an interest, together with local government, voluntary organisations and other bodies.
	Information relating to agencies and non-departmental bodies sponsored by the Department is not held centrally and could be gathered only at disproportionate cost.

Recruitment Advertising

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much her Department has spent on recruitment advertising in each year since 1997.

Alun Michael: As Defra was created in June 2001; information prior to this date is unavailable.
	Given the current structure of the Human Resources function within the Department the information requested is available only at disproportionate cost.

Rural Payments Agency

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will instruct the Rural Payments Agency to change its policy on accepting an initialled alteration of a figure on a subsidy claim.

Alun Michael: Following legal advice, the Rural Payments Agency has reviewed its procedures on accepting alterations on subsidy claims. It will no longer accept initialled alterations.
	With effect from the 2004 scheme year IACS applicants are being advised that amendments must be crossed through, the correct information entered and the change signed and dated. Correction fluid is not to be used.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces (Irish Citizens)

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many citizens of the Republic of Ireland are serving in Her Majesty's armed forces.

Adam Ingram: There are currently 65 Naval Service personnel and 200 Army personnel with a Republic of Ireland nationality shown on their Record of Service.
	Insufficient data are available to produce reliable estimates for the RAF.

Army Strength

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the (a) establishment and (b) strength of all ranks above major in the Army; and if he will make a statement.

Ivor Caplin: As at January 2003, the liability for officers over the rank of Major in the Army is:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 Lt. Col. 1,579 
			 Col. 546 
			 Brig. 175 
			 Maj. Gen. 27 
			 Lt. Gen. 5 
			 Gen. 2 
		
	
	The information requested on strengths of all ranks over Major in the Army is contained in Tri-Service Publication 9, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.

Army Strength

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons units are receiving lists of names for manning control review.

Ivor Caplin: The nomination of personnel for manning control action is a unit responsibility. Before January 2001 lists of individuals approaching Manning Control Points were regularly issued to Commanding Officers by the Infantry Manning and Career Management Division. In January 2001 this practice ceased. However, it subsequently proved that the information needed could not easily be taken from the relevant local computer systems. Following requests from individual units divisional lists were therefore resumed in January 2004. Commanding Officers are not required to take any action unless they believe that an individual should be subject to manning control.

Colombia

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK military personnel are deployed in Colombia; and how many Colombian military personnel are being trained in the UK.

Adam Ingram: On the subject of the number of United Kingdom military personnel deployed in Colombia, I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 11 June 2003, Official Report, column 910W.
	One Colombian military officer is currently attending the Advanced Command and Staff Course at the Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham.

Kenya

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British military exercises have taken place in Kenya in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) number of troops involved and (b) length of exercise.

Adam Ingram: The details of British military exercises that have taken place in Kenya over the last five years; broken down by the number of participating troops and length of the exercise are shown in the following table:
	
		Army
		
			  Exercise 
			  Grand Prix(7) Mono Prix(8) Sharp Point(9) Pineapple(10) Oakapple(11) Crabapple(12) 
		
		
			  
			  
			 1999 3 1 1 1 1 1 
			 2000 3 1 1 1 1 1 
			 2001 3 1 1 1 1 1 
			 2002 2 1 1 1 1 1 
			 2003 2 0 0 1 0 1 
			 Total number of exercises 13 4 4 5 4 5 
			 Duration of each exercise (weeks) 6 6 6 6 6 6 
			 Approximate number of personnel involved in each 700 140 140 120 140 45 
		
	
	(7) A battalion exercise
	(8) A company exercise
	(9) A squadron level primary healthcare exercise
	(10) A squadron level explosive ordnance clearance exercise
	(11) A squadron level engineer construction exercise
	(12) A troop level engineer construction exercise

Missile Defence Centre

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what expenses are expected to be met from the Government's investment in the Missile Defence Centre; what expenses will be met by industry; how much investment is expected from industry; what outputs are expected from the centre; and if he will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: The expenses incurred by the Missile Defence Centre (MDC) fall into the broad categories of running costs for the Centre itself and funding for specific technical work carried out in support of its objectives. In the period from the MDC's opening last July to the end of financial year 2003–04 the Ministry of Defence expects to contribute some £5.5 million, while the estimated contribution by industry will be some £2 million.
	The outputs expected from the MDC in 2003–04 include: advice on missile defence issues; the development of models and databases to facilitate the formulation and evaluation of concepts for defending the United Kingdom against the ballistic missile threat; and the construction and testing of hardware elements of potential use to the United States Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) programme. These outputs are intended to inform national BMD policy, establish a leading role for the UK in missile defence, and secure significant participation by UK industry in the US BMD programme.

North Korea

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of ballistic missiles (a) owned and (b) exported by North Korea;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the biological weapons capacity of North Korea;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the numerical strength of the special forces of North Korea;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the (a) artillery and (b) missile launcher capacity of North Korea.

Geoff Hoon: Our assessment of North Korea's ballistic missile threat was published in December 2002 in the public discussion paper on Missile Defence, a copy of which is held in the Library of the House. The paper is also on the Ministry of Defence website www.mod.uk. North Korea has some hundreds of SCUD short-range ballistic missiles and NO DONG medium-range ballistic missiles in service. It is estimated that North Korea has also exported at least 400 ballistic missiles.
	North Korea is a State Party to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. North Korea has the infrastructure to support the development of chemical and biological weapons and we remain very concerned by persistent reports that it is pursuing programmes to develop WMD.
	The North Korean Special Operations Forces totals nearly 90,000 personnel of whom roughly 40,000 are deployable combat personnel; the rest are support staff.
	We estimate that the North Korean army has around 30,000 artillery pieces. North Korea possesses many thousands of launcher systems for its artillery and ballistic, air defence and coastal defence missiles.
	The International Institute for Strategic Studies' annual publication 'The Military Balance' gives details of military forces and capabilities.

Queen's Lancashire Regiment

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future role of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.

Adam Ingram: The Queen's Lancashire Regiment is a mechanised battalion currently with 19 Mechanised Brigade in Catterick. They are due to be posted to Cyprus this month, with responsibility for the security of the Sovereign Base Area and will carry out this duty until March 2006. Additionally, from April 2004 the Battalion will have a reinforcement role in Iraq.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Gambling

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment the Government have made of the impact of the proposals in the draft Gambling Bill on consumer debt.

Richard Caborn: The policy document published with draft clauses in November as Cm 6014 drew attention to the risks of people gambling sums which they could not afford, and to the measures to be included in the Bill to address these risks, which include powers for the Gambling Commission to regulate advertising, credit and inducements, as well as provision for gambling debts to become enforceable. These and other measures are intended to avoid the growth in gambling opportunities from being accompanied by growth in the incidence of problem gambling; but we have made no separate assessment in terms of consumer debt generally.

Gambling

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the impact of the proposals outlined in the draft Gambling Bill upon the work of social services departments.

Richard Caborn: We do not think that the proposals should have any overall impact on the work of social services.

Gambling

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the impact of the proposals outlined in the draft Gambling Bill upon the number of casino planning and licensing applications.

Richard Caborn: We expect there to be an increase, not least because the proposals envisage abolition of the provision in the current law that casinos may be established only in specified permitted areas.

Gambling

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the impact of the proposals in the draft Gambling Bill upon (a) problem gambling and (b) money laundering.

Richard Caborn: The Regulatory Impact Assessment published in November with draft clauses as Cm 6014 noted that proposals which extended the choice and availability of gambling carried a risk of increasing problems in these areas, but drew attention to the effective system of licensing and regulation by a new Gambling Commission, with powers and resources not currently available, intended to address this risk.

Gambling

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what research her Department has assessed into the links between use of gaming machines by under 18-year-olds and the prevalence of gambling problems.

Richard Caborn: We have taken note of the research studies cited in the report of the Gambling Review Body (Cm 5206) and included in the survey of relevant research evidence which formed part of the 2003 report by Professor Collins for the Responsibility in Gambling Trust (a copy of which is available on the Trust's website). A number of these studies relate to gaming machine play by children and young persons.

Gambling

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to commission a baseline study on the prevalence of problem gambling in the United Kingdom.

Richard Caborn: The results from the prevalence study which were published in 2000, and which were taken into account by the Gambling Review Body, provide the most recent baseline. We think that it would be desirable for a further study to be carried out before the provisions of the Bill are brought into effect.

Gambling

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the merits of adopting a harm-indexed approach to forms of gambling.

Richard Caborn: The draft Gambling Bill reflects the principle that the degree of regulation to be applied to different kinds of gambling activity should reflect the degree of regulatory risk which they involve, those risks being of harm to children and the vulnerable; unfairness to participants; or crime or disorder.

Gambling

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the link between levels of problem gambling and restrictions on the use of gaming machines by under 18s in other European countries.

Richard Caborn: There is little reliable information currently available to support possible hypotheses on this matter.

Grants (Lancashire)

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what grants that fall outside the revenue support grant were made available to (a) Lancashire and (b) Chorley from her Department in each of the last four financial years.

Richard Caborn: The information is as follows:
	(a) The following grants that fall outside the revenue support grant were made available to Lancashire by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in each of the last four financial years.
	Lancashire has received the following grants from Arts Council England in the last four financial years 1 .
	
		
			 Financial year Number of grants Total amount (£) 
		
		
			 2000–01 0 0 
			 2001–02 4 132,000 
			 2002–03 3 65,400 
			 2003–04 14 35,035 
			 Total 21 232,435 
		
	
	English Heritage has offered the following grants to Lancashire in the last four financial years 1 :
	
		
			  Repair grants Heritage economicregeneration schemes 
			 Financialyear Number of grants offered Total Number of grants offered Total 
		
		
			 2000–01 6 302,173 5 207,850 
			 2001–02 10 267,386 8 527,411 
			 2002–03 5 256,793 6 299,166 
			 2003–04 5 93,381 7 751,166 
			 Total 26 919,733 26 1,785,593 
		
	
	Lancashire has received the following grants from Sport England in the last four financial years
	(13):
	
		
			 Financial year Number of grants Total amount (£) 
		
		
			 2000–01 5 72,790 
			 2001–02 10 153,340 
			 2002–03 9 135,600 
			 2003–04 5 44,000 
			 Total 29 405,730 
		
	
	In 2001–02, Lancashire county council was awarded £178,000 from the DCMS/Wolfson Public Libraries Challenge Fund for reader development activities in the Burnley area.
	Bolton Museum and Art Gallery and the Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, are partners in the North West regional hub as part of "Renaissance in the Regions" (the national framework for England's museums and galleries). The North West hub received £160,000 in 2003–04 for "Renaissance", with a further £80,000 from the Education Strategy Fund (which delivers education programmes to school-aged children). The total grant to the North West hub for the period 2003–06 will be £1.42 million for "Renaissance" and £580,000 for the Education Strategy Fund.
	Lancashire County Museums Service's textile industry collections are Designated (a pre-eminent collection of national or international importance held in a non-national museum) and have been awarded the following grants through the Designation Challenge Fund since it was established in 1999:
	2000–01: £32,693—Development of plans for new displays at Whitakers Mill and improvements to storage.
	2001–02: £122,210—Refurbishment and development of the "Spinning a Tale" Gallery, which portrays the mechanisation of the textile industry.
	2002–04: £66,749—Improve access to the Designated collections held at Helmshore Textile Museums and Queen Street Mill Museum.
	In 2003–04, the North West Regional Development Agency received DCMS funding of £713,000 towards implementing their tourism strategy for the region. Lancashire will be among the beneficiaries of this funding.
	Lancashire has received the following awards from the National Lottery in the last four financial years 2 :
	
		
			 Financial year Number of awards Total amount (£) 
		
		
			 2000–01 480 21,798,686 
			 2001–02 365 25,691,632 
			 2002–03 537 25,800,444 
			 2003–04 416 25,188,943 
			 Total 1798 98,479,705 
		
	
	(b) The following grants that fall outside the revenue support grant were made available to Chorley by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in each of the last four financial years.
	English Heritage has offered Chorley the following grants in the last four financial years 1 :
	
		
			 Financial Repair grants Heritage economicregeneration schemes 
			 year Number Total (£) Number Total 
		
		
			 2000–01 1 7,500 0 0 
			 2001–02 2 20,653 0 0 
			 2002–03 2 74,000 0 0 
			 2003–04 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 5 102,153 0 0 
		
	
	Chorley has received the following grants from Sport England in the last four financial years 1 :
	
		
			 Financial year Number of grants Total amount (£) 
		
		
			 2000–01 1 12,290 
			 2001–02 1 12,740 
			 2002–03 0 — 
			 2003–04 0 — 
			 Total 2 25,030 
		
	
	In 2003–04, the North West Regional Development Agency received DCMS funding of £713,000 towards implementing their tourism strategy for the region. Chorley will be among the beneficiaries of this funding.
	Chorley has received the following awards from the National Lottery in the last four financial years 2 :
	
		
			 Financial year Number of awards Total amount (£) 
		
		
			 2000–01 31 169,139 
			 2001–02 42 3,087,645 
			 2002–03 74 5,150,093 
			 2003–04 47 2,352,584 
			 Total 194 10,759,461 
		
	
	1 Excluding Lottery grants. 2 The data has been derived from the Department's Awards Database and is based on information supplied by the distributing bodies. Full details of each of these projects can be found at: http://wwwlotteryculture.gov.uk/introduction.asp

Grants (Lancashire)

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding and grants are given for theatres in Chorley.

Estelle Morris: This is a matter for Arts Council England. I understand that there is currently no funding going to theatres in Chorley though the grant schemes operated by the Arts Council are open to all applicants who meet the published criteria.

National Lottery

Julie Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on her plans to make the distribution of National Lottery funds more responsive to public opinion.

Tessa Jowell: The Government made a commitment in the National Lottery Funding Decision Document to increase the public's involvement in decisions on Lottery spending. The new merged distributor will pioneer new ways to achieve this. In preparation, the Community Fund and the New Opportunities Fund are already beginning to look at new ideas for consulting local people about particular local decisions. Other options on involving the public are being explored, including some of those set out in the decision document. Lottery distributors are also working together to identify best practice and to develop options for increasing public involvement in decisions about Lottery funding themes and local Lottery spending.

National Lottery

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much Heritage Lottery funding was given to each of the principal seaside towns in England and Wales from (a) the inception of the Lottery to 1997 and (b) 1997 to date, listed in descending order.

Estelle Morris: The amount of Heritage Lottery Funding that was given to each of the principal seaside towns in England and Wales from (a) the inception of the Lottery to, 1997 and (b) 1997 to date, listed in descending order was:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			  
			  
			  (a) Inception—31 December 1996 
			 Brighton 1,218,650 
			 Folkestone and Hythe 116,000 
			 Thanet 183,000 
			 Blackpool 97,500 
			 Weston-Super-Mare 71,500 
			 Conwy 60,000 
			 Isle of Wight 57,000 
			 Southport 34,000 
			 Hastings and Bexhill 7,200 
			 Bournemouth — 
			 Eastbourne — 
			 Lowestoft — 
			 Southend-on-Sea — 
			 Torbay — 
			 Whitstable and Herne Bay — 
			 Worthing — 
			   
			 (b) 1 January 1997 to date 
			 Brighton 13,130,219 
			 Hastings and Bexhill 6,920,138 
			 Conwy 6,765,877 
			 Southport 5,538,238 
			 Thanet 5,054,713 
			 Isle of Wight 5,149,466 
			 Folkestone and Hythe 5,412,968 
			 Bournemouth 3,407,225 
			 Weston-Super-Mare 1,954,475 
			 Whitstable and Herne Bay 1,707,311 
			 Southend-on-Sea 1,694,929 
			 Torbay 939,100 
			 Lowestoft 775,547 
			 Blackpool 745,800 
			 Eastbourne 435,650 
			 Worthing 2,062,145

Parthenon Sculptures

Julie Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent representations she has received from the Greek Government regarding the ownership of the Parthenon Sculptures.

Estelle Morris: Representations made to Government from the Greek Government have focused primarily on reuniting the Parthenon Sculptures in the planned new Acropolis Museum in Athens on a long term basis.
	In giving evidence before the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee in June 2000, the Greek Government emphasised that their current case rested on the proposal for a change in location of the Sculptures, rather than ownership issues.
	In October 2002, the Prime Minister of Greece presented the Prime Minister with a copy of a proposal for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles in Greece which suggested that the restitution of the Marbles be carried out in the form of a long-term loan from the British Museum to the new Acropolis Museum, "bypassing the issue of ownership".
	The Government have stated that they consider the Parthenon Sculptures to be a matter for the Trustees of the British Museum who are independent of Government.

Satellite Television

Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions she has had with service providers on access to free-to-view, commercial terrestrial channels, via satellite; and if she will make a statement.

Estelle Morris: Until May last year, the BBC paid for "solus" viewing cards enabling customers who did not wish to pay a subscription to receive the public service broadcasting channels by satellite. However, following the move of its broadcast services to a new satellite, all of the BBC's digital channels are now available via satellite without the need for a viewing card. It has therefore stopped paying for the provision of solus cards.
	Following representations from the Government last year, an agreement was reached between the other main broadcasters and BSkyB to ensure that existing solus card viewers could continue receiving the other public service channels after their current cards expired in 2003. Viewers were able to purchase a new card, valid until at least 31 December 2005, for a one-off fee of £20+VAT. This offer was extended until 31 January 2004.
	We understand that the broadcasters have no current plans to provide solus cards to new satellite customers. However, the Government remains committed to ensuring that analogue terrestrial broadcasting signals are maintained until everyone who can currently get the main public service broadcasting channels (BBC1 and 2, ITV1, Channel 4/S4C and Five) can receive them free-to-view via at least one of the digital platforms.

Television Licence (Pensioners)

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will fund free television licences for pensioners.

Estelle Morris: The Government have already introduced free television licences for people aged 75 or over but have no plans to extend this concession to all pensioners. However, the arrangements for funding the BBC after the expiry of the Corporation's current Royal Charter at the end of 2006 are due to be considered as part of the Charter review process. The review will include a detailed examination of the concessionary arrangements.

SCOTLAND

Public Transport

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what measures have been introduced to encourage use of public transport by the disabled.

Anne McGuire: The specific issues in relation to public transport in Scotland are devolved and a matter for the Scottish Executive. Nicol Stephen., MSP, is the Scottish Executive Minister with responsibility for transport.
	I understand, however, that the Scottish Executive is committed to ensuring that public transport is accessible to people with disabilities.

Supreme Court

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received on the appropriate number of Scottish members of the new Supreme Court.

Anne McGuire: The consultation on the Supreme Court was undertaken by the Department for Constitutional Affairs. Responses from Scottish organisations went directly to them. My right hon. Friend has not received any representations on the number of Scottish members of the new Supreme Court.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Cardiology Services

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what benefits derive from local hospitals providing nurse-led cardiac care services.

Angela Smith: All cardiac care inpatient services in local hospitals are consultant led. Cardiology nurses involved in the provision of cardiac services deliver essential elements of the patients' care, such as lifestyle advice in the case of cardiac rehabilitation. Their skills and knowledge allow for a more holistic approach to the care of patients.

Cardiology Services

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will estimate the cost of local hospitals providing a mobile coronary care service involving (a) a senior house officer and (b) nurses only.

Angela Smith: A number of different models currently exist for mobile coronary care units. Some are led by junior doctors, some by nurses and others by paramedics. Models of service delivery need to be flexible enough to respond to local needs including geography, demographics and existing service provision. Different types of vehicle are used and different grades of staff are involved, even within one discipline such as nursing. There is no average cost or typical unit. Any estimate of costs for a generic model therefore, whether led by doctors or nurses, would not be meaningful.

Cardiology Services

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what actions doctors can take as part of a mobile coronary care service that cardiology nurses are unable to offer.

Angela Smith: Mobile coronary care units are staffed by cardiology nurses and/or junior doctors. There is no difference in the procedures that can be undertaken by a doctor and a nurse when involved in a call-out.
	During call-outs the coronary care team has access to a telemedicine link with their base hospital, which allows them to obtain the opinion of a senior cardiac doctor if the need arises.

Departmental Officials

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which former officials of the Department have asked for permission to join (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte and Touche, (c) Ernst and Young and (d) KPMG.

Ian Pearson: No former Civil Servants from the 11 departments of the Northern Ireland Administration and the Northern Ireland Office have, during the calendar years 2001, 2002 and 2003, applied for permission to join PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and Touche, Ernst and Young or KPMG.

Departmental Officials

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what secondments (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte and Touche, (c) Ernst and Young and (d) KPMG have made to his Department since 2001; for what (i) periods and (ii) tasks the secondments were made; whether secondments of staff from his Department have been made to those firms; and for what (A) periods and (B) tasks.

Ian Pearson: Since 2001 no secondments, either inward or outward, have taken place between the 11 departments of the Northern Ireland Administration and the Northern Ireland Office and the companies mentioned.
	The answer excludes agencies and NDPBs.

Doctors' Hours

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many hours on average were worked weekly by (a) consultants, (b) registrars, (c) senior house officers and (d) junior house officers at each of the Province's health trusts in the most recent period for which figures were available.

Angela Smith: The information requested is provided in the table. Detailed information of this nature, however, is not routinely collected by trusts and can be difficult to obtain due to the non-standard working patterns of medical staff. Where precise figures have been unavailable, a number of trusts have attempted to provide a best estimate or range.
	
		Number of hours (on average) worked by consultants, registrars, senior house officers and junior house officers—week beginning 26January 2004 (unless otherwise indicated)
		
			 Health and social services trusts Consultants Registrars Senior House Officers Junior House Officers 
		
		
			 Altnagelvin Group HSS Trust(14) N/A N/A N/A N/A 
			 Armagh and Dungannon HSS Trust 43.0 0.0 54.2 0.0 
			 Belfast City Hospital HSS Trust N/A 50.1 48.6 53.2 
			 Causeway HSS Trust 43.0 50.7 45.4 54.8 
			 Craigavon and Banbridge Community HSS Trust(15) 40.0–44.0 40.0 45.0 0.0 
			 Craigavon Area Hospital Group HSS Trust N/A 48.0–60.0 48.0–55.0 50.0 
			 Down Lisburn HSS Trust N/A 47.3 42.1 50.8 
			 Foyle Community HSS Trust N/A N/A 46.5 0.0 
			 Greenpark Healthcare HSS Trust(16) N/A N/A N/A N/A 
			 Homefirst Community HSS Trust(17) N/A 32.5 40.3 N/A 
			 Mater Infirmorum Hospital HSS Trust(18) N/A 53.0 46.0 54.0 
			 Newry and Mourne HSS Trust(19) 40.0 58.0 62.0 56.0 
			 North and West Belfast HSS Trust 40.0 40.0–48.0 40.0–48.0 0.0 
			 Royal Group of Hospitals HSS Trust 45.0–50.0 45.0–50.0 45.0–50.0 50.0–55.0 
			 South and East Belfast HSS Trust N/A 41.9 48.4 0.0 
			 Sperrin Lakeland HSS Trust(20) 68.0 65.0 62.0 56.0 
			 Ulster Community and Hospital Group HSS Trust(21) N/A N/A N/A N/A 
			 United Hospitals Group HSS Trust N/A 53.3 48.8 47.6 
		
	
	(14) Altnagelvin Group HSS Trust cannot readily provide number of hours worked. The majority of the doctors are contracted for a basic 40 hours per week but many are working alternative shift patterns and are on 'on call' rotas.
	(15) Craigavon and Banbridge Community HSS Trust has provided approximate hours worked as the medical staff participate on 'on-call' rotas. As such, hours worked each week will vary depending on the intensity of work required in that particular week.
	(16) Greenpark Healthcare HSS Trust cannot readily provide number of hours worked.
	(17) Homefirst Community HSS Trust has provided figures supplied from the trust's last monitoring return. Information supplied is as at February 2004.
	(18) Mater Infirmorum Hospital HSS Trust cannot provide figures for consultant hours as they are currently undertaking a diary exercise on hours worked and this information is not available at present but will be available in due course.
	(19) Newry and Mourne HSS Trust have not monitored hours in the period so they can only give an approximation based on the rotas set out for each grade of staff.
	(20) Sperrin Lakeland HSS Trust have provided consultant figures from 2001 Consultant Appraisal Exercise and Registrar, SHO and Junior House Officer figures from Junior Doctors New Deal Monitoring.
	(21) Ulster Community and Hospitals Group HSS Trust has not provided figures due to the disproportionate cost of obtaining the information.

Ethnic and Religious Integration

Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much emphasis in targeting social need is given to integrating ethnic and religious groups.

John Spellar: New Targeting Social Need (TSN) is Northern Ireland's main policy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and has three priority areas which focus on Employment/Employ ability, addressing inequality in other areas such as health and housing and Promoting Social Inclusion.
	The Promoting Social Inclusion (PSI) element of New TSN involves Departments working, both collectively and with partners outside Government to identify and tackle factors, which can contribute to social exclusion. One of the initial priority areas identified under PSI was the position of minority ethnic people in Northern Ireland.
	A formal PSI Working Group was set up to develop a strategy to promote inclusion of minority ethnic people in Northern Ireland and to tackle racial inequalities. A Race Equality Unit was established in 2001 within the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister to oversee the development of the Race Equality Strategy. The Unit's role is to lead on action—by Government and in partnership with external stakeholders—to tackle social exclusion of minority ethnic people in Northern Ireland and racial inequalities. It maintains close links with the Home Office, the National Assembly for Wales, the Scottish Executive and the administration in Republic of Ireland.
	A draft of the Strategy was published for consultation in February 2003. A finalised version of the Strategy, which takes account of the results of the consultation, will be published in summer 2004.

Fatal Shootings

Kevin McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the circumstances were of the fatal shooting involving members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland on 29 April.

Jane Kennedy: The Police Ombudsman advises that the fatal shooting on 29 April 2003 involving the Police Service of Northern Ireland was referred to her office and that the incident is currently under investigation.

Giant's Causeway

David Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the timetable is for the restoration of the visitor centre at the Giant's Causeway, County Antrim; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: The Government have set Easter 2006 as the target date for the provision of new visitor facilities at the Giant's Causeway.
	A Prior Information Notice which declares Government's intention to run parallel international competitions for both the architectural design and for the interpretation and fit out of the new facilities will be placed in the Official Journal of the European Union during week commencing 1 March 2004. This is the first step in the process and will be followed by the Formal Notice for the Architectural Design Competition which will invite expressions of interest. The architectural competition, which will be supervised by the International Union of Architects in Paris, will be run in accordance with UNESCO standard regulations for international competitions for World Heritage Sites.

Health Service (Complaints)

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many complaints were received in Northern Ireland in the last 12 months by each health trust regarding (a) hospital, (b) community and (c) other care.

Angela Smith: Information is not available in the format requested. The following table presents information on the total number of complaints received by each Health and Social Services Trust in the year ending September 2003. The Trusts are categorised according to whether they are hospital Trusts, community Trusts, mixed (hospital and community) Trusts, or other Trusts.
	
		Number of complaints received by each Health and Social Services Trust in the year ending September 2003, by category of Trust
		
			 Health and Social Services Trust Total Number of Complaints 
		
		
			 Belfast City Hospital 142 
			 Green Park 126 
			 Mater Infirmorum 90 
			 Royal Group of Hospitals 418 
			 United Hospitals 281 
			 Craigavon Area Group 177 
			 Altnagelvin Group 205 
			 Hospital Trusts (Total) 1,439 
			   
			 North and West Belfast 160 
			 South and East Belfast 300 
			 Homefirst 233 
			 Craigavon and Banbridge 71 
			 Foyle 57 
			 Community Trusts (Total) 821 
			   
			 Down Lisburn 271 
			 Ulster Community and Hospitals 331 
			 Causeway 471 
			 Armagh and Dungannon 80 
			 Newry and Mourne 123 
			 Sperrin Lakeland 85 
			 Mixed Trusts (Total) 1,361 
			   
			 Northern Ireland Ambulance Service 192 
			 Other Trusts (Total) 192 
			 Northern Ireland Total 3,813 
		
	
	Note:
	Community Trusts may provide services in non-acute hospitals, as well as services outside hospital

Autistic Spectrum Disorders

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of sufferers of autistic spectrum disorders in Northern Ireland are deemed to have a learning disability.

Angela Smith: The information requested is not available.

Physiotherapy

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2004, Official Report, column 946W, on physiotherapy, if he will provide six monthly totals for each of the last five years of patients who waited between three and six months for an initial physiotherapy assessment.

Angela Smith: Information is collected centrally on numbers of persons attending a first out-patient appointment of an episode of care with a community physiotherapist, rather than on initial physiotherapy assessments. The number of persons who had waited between three and six months for their appointment is shown in the following table. The information is in respect of six-month intervals from the quarter ending 30 September 1998 to the quarter ending 30 September 2003 (the latest date for which such information is available).
	
		
			   Persons who waited betweenthree and six months 
			 Quarter ending Total number of persons Number Percentage 
		
		
			 30 September 1998 9,863 905 9.2 
			 31 March 1999 10,679 1,505 14.1 
			 30 September 1999 11,837 1,504 12.7 
			 31 March 2000 11,704 2,235 19.1 
			 30 September 2000 11,492 1,403 12.2 
			 31 March 2001 13,446 1,995 14.8 
			 30 September 2001 12,754 2,800 22.0 
			 31 March 2002 14,154 2,741 19.4 
			 30 September 2002 14,303 2,610 18.2 
			 31 March 2003 15,644 2,632 16.8 
			 30 September 2003 12,798 2,542 19.9

Integrated Transport System

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made in the development of an integrated transport system for Northern Ireland.

John Spellar: The Regional Transportation Strategy for Northern Ireland 2002- 12, the underlying principles and strategic direction of which were unanimously agreed by the Northern Ireland Assembly in July 2002, sets out a strategic framework for the future planning, funding and delivery of an integrated transport system for the region.
	The implementation of the RTS is overseen, monitored and reviewed by the Regional Transportation Strategy Steering Group. The Department for Regional Development has also established an External Advisory Board, the Integrated Transport Stakeholder Group which offers advice on the implementation of the RTS.
	Delivery of the RTS is being progressed through three transport plans; the Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan, the Regional Strategic Network Transport Plan and the Sub-Regional Transport Plan. Work on the BMTP is well advanced and a proposed BMTP is due for release for Equality Impact Assessment consultation in March 2004. Taking any EQIA comments into account, publication is expected later in the year.
	The RSTN TP is expected to be published in summer 2004. The SRTP is being developed in association with local Development Plans and is to be completed in 2006.

Intergovernmental Bodies

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) cost and (b) number of staff was in the (i) North-South Ministerial Council, (ii) British Irish Council and (iii) Inter-Governmental Conference in each year since they were created.

Paul Murphy: The cost and number of staff in each year since December 1999, when these Bodies were established, are as follows. (a) North/South Ministerial Council
	
		
			  Cost (£)(22) Staff 
		
		
			 1999–2000 94,949 6 
			 2000–01 737,162 15 
			 2001–02 787,609 16 
			 2002–03 606,889 16 
			 2003–04 (23)489,964 15 
		
	
	(22) Expenditure by the NI Administration which includes salaries, administration and cost of meetings.
	(23) Provisional figure (up to 31 January 2004)
	(b) British-Irish Council
	Each member of the British-Irish Council is responsible for the costs of its participation. The British and Irish Governments provide the Secretariat for the Council, in co-ordination with officials of each of the other members and bear the costs between them. In addition to servicing the work of the Council, the officials are involved in carrying out a range of other duties. It is not therefore possible to provide the cost of the British-Irish Council since its inception nor to identify detailed staff numbers. However, the cost to the NI Administration for Ministerial meetings in NI and travel and subsistence costs for Ministerial meetings outside NI are as follows:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 1999–2000 6,365 
			 2000–01 7,420 
			 2001–02 10,158 
			 2002–03 19,448 
			 2003–04 2,597 
		
	
	(c) British-Irish Inter-governmental Conference
	The cost of the British-Irish Inter-governmental Conferences since 1999 can be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The expenditure of the British-Irish Inter-governmental Secretariat is met by the two governments. The costs given are in relation to the British Government since 2 December 1999.
	
		
			  Cost (£) (24)Staff 
		
		
			 1999–2000 (25)232 14 
			 2000–01 488 14 
			 2001–02 554 12 
			 2002–03 539 12 
			 2003–04 (26)445 12 
		
	
	(24) Figures given include staff from the Northern Ireland Office and the Irish Government.
	(25) As the British-Irish Inter-governmental Conference was established on 2 December 1999, this figure covers the period 2 December 1999 to 31 March 2000.
	(26) Provisional figure (up to 31 January 2004)

Intergovernmental Bodies

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many meetings of the (a) North-South Ministerial Council, (b) British-Irish Inter-Governmental Conference and (c) British Irish Council took place in each year since they were created.

Paul Murphy: The numbers of ministerial meetings that have taken place are as follows:
	
		
			 Institution 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 (a) North-South Ministerial Council 1 22 24 18 0 0 
			 (b) British-Irish Inter-Governmental Conference 1 0 0 2 3 1 
			 (b) British-Irish Council 1 2 1 4 4 0

Olympic Bid

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in relation to the London 2012 Olympic Bid; and what steps he has taken to promote Northern Ireland as a venue for events within that bid.

Angela Smith: Regular contact takes place with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport through an inter-departmental group on the Olympic bid and one of the issues discussed by this group is how the regions, including Northern Ireland, can benefit from the games. Northern Ireland has been suggested as a venue for the early rounds of the football tournament and there is also the possibility of hosting training and acclimatisation camps for competing countries prior to the Games. The Olympic Bid has also become a standing item on the agenda for the Sports Cabinet, which is attended by UK Sports Ministers, including the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

Parliamentary Questions

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many days on average his Department took in Session 2002–03 to give a substantive answer to a parliamentary Question for ordinary written answer; and what the greatest number of days taken to answer such a question was.

Paul Murphy: This information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, I would like to assure the hon. Member that my department understands the importance of providing prompt and accurate answers to all Parliamentary Questions.

Child/Adolescent Psychiatry

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the longest time is for which a person has waited for child and adolescent psychiatry assessment in each board or trust area where the information is available.

Angela Smith: The following table details the longest time a patient has been waiting for child and adolescent psychiatry assessment at each of the health trusts in Northern Ireland which provide child and adolescent psychiatry services. The latest information available is representative of the position at 31 January 2004. 1 , 2
	
		
			 Provider trust Longest wait 
		
		
			 Down and Lisburn HSS Trust 24 months 
			 Ulster Community and Hospitals HSS Trust 5 months 
			 Foyle HSS Trust 36 months 
			 Sperrin Lakeland HSS Trust 25 months 
			 Homefirst Community HSS Trust(27) 12 months 
			 Craigavon and Banbridge Community HSS Trust 8 months 
			 Newry and Mourne HSS Trust 12 months 
			 Armagh and Dungannon HSS Trust 23 months 
			 South and East Belfast HSS Trust(28) 3 months 
			 The Royal Group of Hospitals HSS Trust 48 months 
		
	
	(27) Latest available data for Homefirst Community HSS Trust refers to patients waiting at 26 January 2004.
	(28) South and East Belfast HSS Trust figures refer to patients waiting at 1 March 2004.
	Note:
	Data for all other trusts refers to patients waiting at 31 January 2004.
	Source:
	HPSS Trusts

Child/Adolescent Psychiatry

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many individuals are waiting for assessment by child and adolescent psychiatry services.

Angela Smith: Information obtained from health trusts in Northern Ireland indicates that, at the end of January 2004 1 , 2 , 1,289 children were awaiting assessment by child and adolescent psychiatry services.
	
		Number of children awaiting assessment by child and adolescent psychiatry services in Northern Ireland
		
			 Provider trust Total number of children waiting 
		
		
			 Down and Lisburn HSS Trust 137 
			 Ulster Community and Hospitals HSS Trust 95 
			 Foyle HSS Trust 127 
			 Sperrin Lakeland HSS Trust 176 
			 Homefirst Community HSS Trust(29) 318 
			 Craigavon and Banbridge Community HSS Trust 59 
			 Newry and Mourne HSS Trust 69 
			 Armagh and Dungannon HSS Trust 80 
			 South and East Belfast HSS Trust(30) 56 
			 The Royal Group of Hospitals HSS Trust 172 
			 Northern Ireland 1,289 
		
	
	(29) Latest available data for Homefirst Community HSS Trust refers to patients waiting at 26 January 2004.
	(30) South and East Belfast HSS Trust figures refer to patients waiting at 1 March 2004.
	Note:
	Data for all other Trusts refers to patients waiting at 31 January 2004.
	Source:
	HPSS Trusts

Road Accidents

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what evidence he has collated on road traffic accidents caused by slow driving.

Angela Smith: The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is responsible for the collection of road traffic collision statistics in Northern Ireland and I have been advised that statistics relating specifically to collisions caused by slow moving vehicles are not held.
	While it is accepted that slow drivers can, on occasion, cause annoyance to other road users, there is no evidence to indicate that slow driving is a major cause of collisions.

Speed Cameras

Roy Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what research he has collated regarding the impact of speed cameras on the number of road traffic accidents; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Smith: There have been safety camera schemes similar to the initiative being piloted in Northern Ireland running in Great Britain for a number of years. In the two years of the Great Britain pilot, the number of people killed and seriously injured at camera sites fell by 35 per cent.
	The Northern Ireland Safety Camera Pilot Scheme has been in operation since July 2003 and it is too early to make a valid assessment of its contribution to the reduction of road deaths and serious injuries. There is, however, every reason to believe that there is potential for reductions in deaths and serious injuries in Northern Ireland similar to those in Great Britain.

Victims Memorial Fund

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the Government intend to provide additional funding to the Northern Ireland Memorial Fund for Victims; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Smith: Since 1998, the Government have allocated more than £20 million to victims' issues. More than £7 million of this has been allocated to the Northern Ireland Memorial Fund (NIMF). A number of other initiatives have also been funded. More than £8 million has been allocated for core and project funding to groups working in support of victims. Trauma centres have been established in Belfast and Omagh and Trauma Advisory Panels have been established in each Health Board Area. We are also raising awareness across the public sector about victims' needs, and the special sensitivities required when dealing with those who have experienced traumatic events.
	Significant progress has been made in a relatively short period of time but more needs to be done. That is why I am currently working to develop the next generation of victims' policy. As part of this work I am engaged in a consultation process with victims and survivors and with experts and practitioners in the field to find out more about: victims' needs; to what extent existing initiatives, including the NIMF, are meeting these needs; what are the unmet needs; and where the priorities lie. The outcome of this process, which is ongoing, will inform decisions on future policy and funding.

Waste Recycling

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many district councils in Northern Ireland offer a household waste recycling service.

Angela Smith: All District Councils in Northern Ireland provide a household waste recycling service. The level of provision differs according to each council's operational and budgetary constraints. In all cases, the Waste Management Plans of councils provide for the expansion of these services to maximise recycling and the diversion of waste from landfill.
	Councils provide access to recycling facilities for a range of materials at Civic Amenity Centres. These usually include glass, cans and paper. Some centres also collect plastics, wood and green waste for composting.
	Civic Amenity Centres are complemented in all council areas by the provision of 'bring facilities' in supermarket car parks or other public locations. These usually consist of glass bottle banks and can banks.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Business Links

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department has taken to reduce administrative demands of Business Link projects on small businesses.

Nigel Griffiths: By their very nature Business Link projects offer services to SMEs and do not make additional demands upon them. Business Link Operators provide information, advice or access to experts on any aspect needed to start and expand a business and access to a range of business support solutions including DTI business support products.

Business Regulation

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the 10 projects to reform the regulatory environment for small business referred to in figure 19.3 of the Trade and Industry Departmental Report, Cm 5916.

Nigel Griffiths: The Government remain committed to creating a business environment in which all business, especially small business, has the chance to start, grow and employ staff. It recently published its Action Plan for Small Business on 8 January 2004, which details the measures it will take to reduce the regulatory burden. The Action Plan supersedes and builds on the 10 projects, details of which are set out as follows.
	
		
			 Projects Details 
		
		
			 Timesaver Initiative Timesaver has been incorporated as part of the Business.gov programme. The new Businesslink.gov.uk website is a key delivery arm of the programme. 
			 Carter Review of Payroll Services There was general support for the principle of greater use of information technology. The incentive payments to encourage smaller employers with less than 50 employees to file electronically will begin from 2004–05. The electronic filing of employer returns are expected to become a universal requirement from 2010. The payroll support given by Business Support Teams and the employers' helpline will be expanding. 
			 Small Firms Litmus Test Revised Small Firms Impact Test introduced in February 2003 as part of new Regulatory Impact Assessment process. A database of businesses has been developed to assist policy makers. 
			 Revitalising Local Business Partnerships SBS introduced a Partnership Fund which aims to build on the work currently undertaken by LBPs and encourage LBPs to promote and sustain partnerships. The LBP website was launched in 2001. SBS provide a forum highlighting best practices within the partnerships. SBS have a part-time national LBP co-ordinator. A second national conference was held in June 2003 to mark the 10th anniversary of the first LBP (Barnsley). 
			 Parental Leave and Dispute Resolution Maternity and Paternity package introduced in April 2003. Dispute and Grievance Package including revised ACAS Code coming into force Oct 2004. Small business heavily involved in the shaping of the policy. 
			 Disability SBS has developed relationships with the Disability Rights Commission on the drafting of its code. SBS has worked with Employers Forum on Disability to ensure that Business Advisors can offer best advice to small business. Input into the new Bill and other initiatives on disability are on-going. 
			 Better Regulation Task Force Small Shopkeepers Report 12 recommendations made to Government. Six were accepted, five accepted in part and one not accepted. Progress made, for example, on liquor licensing reform, single internet portal and guidance. 
			 Food Standards and Food Labelling Requirements SBS has forged closer links with the FSA and is working with the agency on the introduction of new simplified standards for the food sector. The aim is to minimise the impact on small businesses. 
			 Climate Change Levy In 2002 the SBS in conjunction with Ecotec undertook research into the impact of the Levy on small businesses. These results were fed into wider DTI work being completed on the levy. 
			 Health and Safety Bill The majority of elements within the Health and Safety Bill were transport related and were incorporated into a Transport Bill with all the health and safety issues dropped from it and not being pursued.

Business Support

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many firms have been helped by (a) grants for research and development, (b) grants for investigating an innovative idea and (c) knowledge transfer partnerships since their introduction.

Nigel Griffiths: The information is as follows.
	(a) 207 Grant for R&D offers have been made between 1 June 2003 to 31 December 2003.
	(b) 75 Grant for Investigating an Innovative Idea offers have been made between 1 June 2003 and 31 December 2003.
	(c) Since the first Knowledge Transfer Partnerships were considered in September 2003, 130 partnerships have been approved and so far 16 of them have begun work on their projects.

Business Support

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much money has been spent on the Small Firms Loan Guarantee scheme since it was created; and of this total, how much has been spent on administration.

Nigel Griffiths: Between the start of the scheme in June 1981 and 31 March 2003 the total programme expenditure has been £482.8 million. Expenditure on administration between 1 April 2000 and 31 March 2003 is estimated at £1.97 million of which £0.37 million is included within the total of £482.8 million and £1.6 million is additional. Earlier administrative cost could be determined only at disproportionate cost.

Consumer Direct

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the (a) responsibilities and (b) planned expenditure of Consumer Direct for each year between 2003 and 2006.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The information is as follows:
	(a) The responsibilities of Consumer Direct are: to provide consistent consumer advice by telephone, e-mail and online, thereby improving accessibility and meeting unmet demand estimated at 400,000 to 1.5 million calls per year; to improve the quality and coverage of information for Trading Standards through access to a central consumer complaints database; and to refer consumers who need additional help and support to the agencies best placed to assist them, including Trading Standards and Citizens Advice Bureaux.
	The service will provide clear, practical advice for consumers who want to: sort out problems with suppliers of goods and services; know their rights as consumers; report scams and find out how to avoid them; receive advice on how to seek out reputable traders. The overriding aim is to empower consumers to resolve issues themselves. It will not provide product specific information or recommend individual organisations or service providers, nor will it intervene with a trader on a consumer's behalf.
	Consumer Direct will begin operation in four Pathfinder nations/regions this summer (Scotland, Wales, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the South West Nationwide rollout (excluding Northern Ireland) will be completed by 2007.
	(b) The planned expenditure of Consumer Direct is:
	
		
			  £ million 
		
		
			 2003–04 3 
			 2004–05 11 
			 2005–06 16 
		
	
	This expenditure may be subject to adjustment depending on the speed of roll out following implementation of the pathfinders.

Debt Collection Agencies

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what regulations exist for debt collection agencies regarding the amount of evidence that must be represented to them before they take up a claim.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) licence debt collection under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. The OFT publishes guidance which is intended to set out the type of behaviour that falls within the category of unfair business practices and which call into question fitness to retain or be given a licence. The most recent guidance on debt collection was published in July 2003.
	The guidance does not specify what evidence must be provided to a debt collection agency before they take up a claim but it does state that "sending demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question" and "ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled" are examples of unfair practices.
	The guidance also makes it clear that the creditor remains responsible for third parties acting on their behalf and states that if they "choose to do business or continue to do business with third parties engaged in questionable fitness, then their own fitness will be called into question."
	A copy of the guidance can be obtained from the Office of Fair Trading, Fleetbank House, 2–6 Salisbury Square, London EC4Y 8JX.

Department Branding

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much her Department spent on branding the Department between 1997–98 and 2003–04, broken down by (a) consultancy fees, (b) design and orders for new stationery, (c) website design and (d) other material featuring new logos.

Patricia Hewitt: The Department does not centrally collect the information sought at the required level of detail and to provide it would entail disproportionate cost.
	However, in 2003 as a result of the DTI Review and the subsequent need to reduce the number of competing brands and logos emanating from the Department all design work has been rationalised around the single and well-recognised DTI logo. £300,000 was spent on identity development and design guidelines—including the production of electronic stationery templates—with the purpose of saving future design costs for the Department. In addition £3,000 has been spent on new stationery, £5,000 on the website and £10,000 on new publicity materials. At all times current and future costs are being kept to a minimum—with the new design guidelines phased in as appropriate.

Dirigibles

Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what research her Department has conducted on the potential (a) environmental and (b) economic benefits that could be derived from dirigibles in meeting future aviation needs.

Tony McNulty: I have been asked to reply.
	None. We do not envisage that dirigibles will play a significant role, if any, in meeting future air passenger transport needs.

Disadvantaged Communities

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to encourage enterprise in disadvantaged communities.

Nigel Griffiths: Promoting more enterprise in disadvantaged communities and among groups of people currently under-represented in enterprise is one of the seven core strategies in the "Action Plan for Small Business" that we published in January 2004.
	We have introduced, and are continuing to develop, a range of measures that includes:
	establishing the Phoenix Fund with a £145 million budget to improve the quality of business support and access to finance (funding a diverse range of initiatives that target specific geographic areas as well as women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, offenders and refugees);
	tasking Business Links to ensure that their services meet the needs of everyone in their areas interested in setting up and running their own business, irrespective of where they live;
	developing enterprise areas (the 15 per cent. most deprived wards) as a means of co-ordinating better policy development;
	support for the Inner City 100 Index which celebrates and role models the success of entrepreneurs from disadvantaged communities;
	specific tools to help community-based social enterprises develop their business skills;
	through the Phoenix Fund supporting the production of City Growth Strategies to help disadvantaged communities to put enterprise at the heart of regeneration.

E-commerce

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures her Department is taking to regulate the use of (a) symbols and (b) hallmarks by web-traders.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Government do not regulate directly the use of symbols and hallmarks by web-traders. Some web-traders use these devices to show that they subscribe to voluntary codes of practice for electronic commerce. The Government encourage the development of self-regulatory approaches to electronic commerce as a light touch alternative to legislation.
	The Enterprise Act 2002 empowers the Office of Fair Trading to approve consumer codes of practice. These arrangements apply to consumer codes generally; they could cover codes for e-commerce, but are not specific to such codes or to symbols and hallmarks used by web-traders.
	The Trade Marks Act 1994 protects signs that are used to indicate the origin of goods, and the courts have confirmed that this law applies equally to the use of such signs on the internet.

E-commerce

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many businesses have been accredited with the TrustUK e-hallmark in each year since its inception; and what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of TrustUK in increasing consumer confidence for on-line shopping.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The number of businesses accredited with the TrustUK e-hallmark in each year since its inception is:
	
		
			  Number of web-traders 
		
		
			 2000 3,765 
			 2001 4,500  
			 2002 5,285 
			 2003 (31)2,941 
		
	
	(31) Decrease in numbers follows the closure of the Consumers' Association's Which? WebTrader scheme in January 2003.
	Figures provided by TrustUK.
	TrustUK is a private sector organisation, which was originally set up with Government endorsement by the Alliance for Electronic Business and The Consumers' Association.
	The Department has participated in two reviews of the TrustUK scheme. These reviews concluded that TrustUK should switch from regulatory work to promoting best practice more generally.
	In 2003, DTI decided to withdraw the secretariat services it provides to the TrustUK approvals committee. This decision took into account the pressure on DTI resources, recent changes to the legislative framework including the Enterprise Act 2002 (which sets out a new approach to codes of practice), and the Department's belief that TrustUK, as a private sector self-regulatory organisation, should be able to operate independently.
	The extent to which schemes like TrustUK are able to enhance consumer confidence depends on their ability to generate demand from business and profile among consumers.
	Since its launch TrustUK has achieved much. Its criteria for e-commerce codes and its "code of codes" model have attracted positive interest and among other things have influenced the European Commission's thinking on an EU-wide code scheme for e-commerce.

Engineering/Manufacturing Jobs (North-West)

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many jobs in (a) engineering and (b) manufacturing have been lost in (i) the North West and (ii) Lancashire since 1997.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Although official statistics do not provide estimates of the number of jobs lost, the ONS Annual Business Inquiry does show the changes in the total number of employee jobs by region.
	In the North West, there were 83,000 (or 16 per cent.) fewer employee jobs in manufacturing and 31,000 (or 15 per cent.) fewer employee jobs in engineering in 2002 compared to 1997.
	In Lancashire, there were 12,000 (or 11 per cent.) fewer employee jobs in manufacturing and 1,000 (or 2 per cent.) fewer employee jobs in engineering in 2002 compared to 1997.
	This information is given in the following table.
	
		Employee jobs in engineering and manufacturing for the North West and Lancashire
		
			  1997 2002 Net change 
		
		
			 Manufacturing
			 North West 532,000 449,000 -83,000 
			 Lancashire 106,000 94,000 -12,000 
			 
			 Engineering
			 North West 197,000 167,000 -31,000 
			 Lancashire 44,000 43,000 -1,000 
		
	
	Note:
	Engineering defined as SICs 27 to 35
	Source:
	1997 Rescaled Annual Employment Survey, Office for National Statistics
	2002 Annual Business Inquiry, Office for National Statistics

Industrial Disputes

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to minimise the impact of working days lost owing to labour disputes on the (a) public administration, (b) education and (c) health sectors.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The DTI does not have lead responsibility for these sectors. While the number of stoppages in 2003 was an all-time low, the Government via the lead Department concerned makes contingency plans, where appropriate, to minimise the impact on the public.

Information Security

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures her Department have taken to ensure that Government Departments are adequately protected from internet hackers and fraudsters.

Douglas Alexander: I have been asked to reply.
	The Cabinet Office provides all Government Departments with comprehensive guidance on information security which is regularly updated as required. This includes advice on how to protect against internet hackers and fraudsters. Departments also subscribe to UNIRAS, the Government's incident reporting and alert scheme, which provides immediate warnings and advice on how to protect against the latest threats.

Inward Investment

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many inward investment decisions were made in the United Kingdom in each year between 1999 and 2003; what the expenditure of British Trade International was on inward investment; and how many new jobs were created through inward investment.

Nigel Griffiths: The following figures are based on information provided by companies at the time of the announcement of the decision to invest in the UK. They are based on the companies best estimate of jobs created by the investment in its first three years. The figures take no account of subsequent developments. There is no requirement to notify UK Trade and Investment and so these figures include only those projects where UK Trade and Investment and its regional partners were involved or which have come to their notice.
	Also in the table is a breakdown of inward investment expenditure by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), formerly British Trade International. These figures include the part funding of the English Regional Development Agencies.
	
		
			  Number of projects Number ofnew jobs UKTI inward investment expenditure(£ million) 
		
		
			 1999–2000 800 54,365 15.3 
			 2000–01 880 71,168 18.7 
			 2001–02 844 35,362 18.1 
			 2002–03 711 34,446 20.9

Jobcentre Plus

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many away days were organised by Jobcentre Plus in 2003; and what their total cost was.

Chris Pond: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Miners' Compensation

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether those whose mining compensation claims have been concluded based on erroneous pension calculations will receive payment of any balance due on a correct recalculation.

Nigel Griffiths: The Department has agreed with the claimants' solicitors that where an offer of compensation is made using the interim pensions spreadsheet in the absence of a final version of the calculator, claimants may either:
	(i) accept the offer as a full and final settlement of all heads of damage, including pension loss, in which case there is no entitlement to a top-up payment; or,
	(ii) accept the offer in full and final settlement of all heads of damage, except pension loss, in which case the claimant may claim a top-up payment once the calculator is finalised.

Miners' Compensation

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many claims for (a) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and (b) vibration white finger have been received to date under the Coal Health Compensation Scheme from the (a) Leigh, (b) Makerfield and (c) Wigan constituencies; and how many have received (i) full and final settlement and (ii) an interim award only.

Nigel Griffiths: holding answer 1 March 2004
	The figures as of 31 January 2004 are:
	
		
			  Claims received Full and final settlements Interim payments 
		
		
			 Leigh
			 COPD 3,779 974 603 
			 VWF 701 422 388 
			 
			 Makerfield
			 COPD 3,015 675 453 
			 VWF 646 349 378 
			 
			 Wigan
			 COPD 2,553 537 388 
			 VWF 366 180 186 
		
	
	Constituency figures can be found on the DTI website: www.dti.gov.uk/coalhealth. The information is complied in the middle of the month and shows the figures for the end of the previous month.

Miners' Compensation

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the cumulative total paid out under the Coal Health Compensation Scheme to former miners and their families in the (a) Leigh, (b) Makerfield and (c) Wigan constituencies was in each of the last five years.

Nigel Griffiths: holding answer 1 March 2004
	The figures are:
	
		£
		
			  Total damages paid(32) 
		
		
			 Leigh  
			 1999 443,229 
			 2000 1,439,124 
			 2001 3,197,967 
			 2002 6,240,815 
			 2003 10,999,680 
			   
			 Makerfield  
			 1999 337,963 
			 2000 1,234,187 
			 2001 2,766,916 
			 2002 5,154,127 
			 2003 9,114,523 
			   
			 Wigan  
			 1999 193,935 
			 2000 772,161 
			 2001 1,694,785 
			 2002 3,494,494 
			 2003 6,027,178 
		
	
	(32) Cumulative as at end of year.
	Notes:
	1. Statistics represent COPD and VWF claims combined.
	2. Total damages paid are cumulative as at the end of the year.
	3. Produced from data copy as at 22 February 2004.
	Constituency figures can be found on the DTI website: www.dti.gov.uk/coalhealth. The information is complied in the middle of the month and shows the figures for the end of the previous month.

Minimum Wage

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people in each London borough are earning the minimum wage.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 1 March 2004
	It is not possible to provide estimates specifically for each borough of London. However, based on the Office for National Statistics' Low Pay data released in 2003, the DTI estimates that around 80,000 people in London stood to benefit from the introduction of the national minimum wage in April 1999.
	The DTI estimates that between 50,000 and 60,000 people in London benefited from the increase in minimum wage rates in October 2003.

Ministerial Meetings

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list, for each bilateral meeting that she has had in the last two years with senior executives of commercial organisations, (a) the date of the meeting, (b) the commercial organisation with whom she met and (c) whether the meeting was at (i) her instigation and (ii) the instigation of the commercial organisation concerned.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 26 February 2004
	I meet representatives from many commercial organisations during the course of my ministerial duties. Obtaining the information as requested could be achieved only at disproportionate cost to the taxpayer.

North Korea

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking to promote trade between the United Kingdom and North Korea.

Mike O'Brien: HMG has not undertaken any trade promotion activity with or in North Korea in the light of North Korea's pursuit of a clandestine nuclear weapons programme. The resumption of such activity is dependent upon substantial progress being made towards a resolution of the nuclear and diplomatic issues.

North Korea

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the benefits to UK firms of North Korea's legislation to exempt foreigners from dual taxation.

Mike O'Brien: None at present.

North Korea

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the benefits to UK firms of North Korea's legislation to give foreigners investment protection guarantees.

Mike O'Brien: None.

Paid Leave

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of the work force has less than three weeks' annual paid leave.

Gerry Sutcliffe: According to the UK Labour Force Survey 1.7 per cent. of full-time employees had less than 15 days paid holiday including bank holidays in autumn 2003 compared to 4.6 per cent. in autumn 1997. From 1999 onwards the working time regulations provided 20 days paid annual leave entitlement including bank holidays per year. In autumn 2003, 2.5 per cent. of full-time employees had less than 20 days paid annual leave including bank holidays compared to 6.8 per cent. in autumn 1997.

Small Business

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many small businesses have reported access to (a) finance and (b) regulation as barriers to growth in each year since 1997.

Nigel Griffiths: Prior to summer 2001 there were no Government surveys that collected robust information on the concerns of small businesses.
	The following table records the proportion of small businesses reporting that access to finance was a barrier to growth in four surveys of small and medium enterprises conducted by the Small Business Service since 2001.
	These surveys did not collect information on the proportion of small businesses reporting that regulation was a barrier to growth. They did, however, collect data on the proportion of small businesses reporting that regulation was one of the main obstacles to the success of their business. This information is also recorded in the following table.
	In each survey, around two thousand owner-managers were interviewed.
	
		The proportion of English small businesses with 1–249 employees(33) who said that they had had a problem with raising finance and that this had slowed the growth of their business(34)
		
			  Percentage 
		
		
			 Wave 1 (summer 2001) 6 
			 Wave 2 (autumn 2001) 3 
			 Wave 3 (winter 2001–02) 2 
			 Wave 4 (summer 2002) (34)Not available 
			 Wave 5 (autumn 2002) 1 
		
	
	(33) Excludes firms with no employees.
	(34) This question was not asked in Wave 4 of the Omnibus Survey.
	Source
	Small Business Service Omnibus Survey
	
		The proportion of English small businesses with 1–249 employees(35) who, when asked what were the main obstacles to the success of their business, mentioned regulation(36)
		
			  Percentage 
		
		
			 Wave 1 (summer 2001) (36)Not available 
			 Wave 2 (autumn 2001) 25 
			 Wave 3 (winter 2001–02) 28 
			 Wave 4 (summer 2002) 20 
			 Wave 5 (autumn 2002) 22 
		
	
	(35) Excludes firms with no employees.
	(36) This question was not asked in Wave 1 of the Omnibus Survey.
	Source
	Small Business Service Omnibus Survey.
	The results of the most recent survey of small businesses conducted by the Small Business Service (autumn 2003) will be published in summer 2004.

Small Business

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many national strategies for the Small Business Service have been (a) developed and (b) implemented; and how her Department intends to monitor these.

Nigel Griffiths: In December 2002, the Small Business Service (SBS) published "Small Business and Government—The Way Forward"—a strategic framework for a government-wide approach to helping small businesses based around seven themes identified as key drivers for economic growth, improved productivity and enterprise for all. Government have used this framework to build a single, cross-government action plan for small business. The SBS published the Action Plan on 8 January 2004.
	Implementation is now underway. Progress is being monitored through a web-based implementation programme accessible at www.sbs.gov.uk which sets out milestones and target dates for the implementation of the actions, together with relevant contact points within Government. It is being updated on a regular basis.

Takeovers

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations she has received from the CBI on the proposed EU Directive on Takeovers.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Department received representations from, and had regular meetings with, the CBI and other business and City consultees throughout the negotiations on the EU Takeovers Directive. We expect the Directive to be finally adopted in the near future.

Working Hours

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the (a) costs and (b) benefits of long hours working for (i) non-manual and (ii) manual workers in the UK.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Department has commissioned and published a two volume study entitled "Working long hours: a review of the evidence" (DTI Employment Relations Research Series No. 16) which summarises the costs and benefits of long hours working for both manual and non-manual workers in the UK. It can be found at the following web address: http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/inform.htm.

Working Hours

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what position she plans to take in the Council of Ministers on the European Parliament's proposal to end the freedom of employees to work more than 48 hours a week; and if she will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Council of Ministers will exchange views on the Commission's Communication published on 5 January 2004 when they meet on 4/5 March.
	The UK believes legislation should provide minimum standards of employment protection while maintaining the flexibility our individual labour market requires and which many workers prefer. We believe that maintaining the opt out allows workers choice as well as protection.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the UN Commission on Human Rights regarding the mandate of the Special Rapporteur in respect of human rights in Burma.

Mike O'Brien: We fully support the efforts of Sergio Pinheiro, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights. We are currently working with our EU partners on this year's Commission on Human Rights Resolution on Burma, including on Pinheiro's Mandate.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the UN Special Envoy to Burma.

Mike O'Brien: I am in regular contact with Tan Sri Razali Ismail, the UN Special Envoy to Burma and last met him when he visited London in July 2003. We fully support his tireless efforts to promote reconciliation in Burma and we urge the regime to allow him to return to Burma soon—he and the UN have a crucial role to play in the reconciliation process.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the treatment of Rohingya Muslims under Burma's 1982 Citizenship Law;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the treatment of Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State in Western Burma.

Mike O'Brien: We are concerned by the issue of ethnic minority rights and the abuses suffered by ethnic groups in Burma including the Rohingya Muslims. The UK welcomes and is supportive of all efforts to encourage the Burmese military regime to enter into genuine and substantive dialogue with democratic and ethnic group leaders in Burma leading to national reconciliation.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what representations he has made to the Burmese Government about the level of political detentions in the country since May 2003;
	(2)  what representations he has made to the State Peace and Development Council in Burma about the release of all prisoners of conscience from prison;
	(3)  what representations he has made to the State Peace and Development Council in Burma about the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest;
	(4)  what representations he has made to the State Peace and Development Council in Burma about lifting all restrictions on the activities of the National League for Democracy and other political parties in Burma.

Mike O'Brien: I have repeatedly called on the Burmese regime to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, to release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience and to allow freedom of speech and activity for the National League for Democracy and all political parties. Most recently I pressed these issues when I met the Burmese Ambassador on 23 February.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of political detentions in Burma (a) between May 2002 and May 2003 and (b) since May 2003.

Mike O'Brien: We estimate that there were approximately 1,300 political prisoners in Burma between May 2002 and May 2003. We estimate that there are currently about 1,350 political prisoners in Burma.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of rapes committed by members of the Burmese Army in 2003.

Mike O'Brien: We do not have the information to make a reliable estimate.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects that the Burmese Army will complete the withdrawal of troops from (a) Karen, (b) Karenni and (c) other ethnic areas.

Mike O'Brien: It is not possible to predict when the Burmese Army will complete its withdrawal of troops from these areas.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the extent of the use of child soldiers in Burma by the State Peace and Development Council.

Mike O'Brien: We are deeply concerned by reports of child soldiers in Burma. UNICEF estimates that as many as 70,000 child soldiers are in the Burmese national army and Human Rights Watch reported in October 2002 that they constituted one fifth of Burma's army and can be as young as 11-years-old. The issue has been included in successive EU co-sponsored UNGA and UNCHR resolutions. In January 2004, the UN Security Council passed a Resolution on Children Affected by Armed Conflict. We highlighted our concerns on child soldiers in Burma.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the ceasefire agreement between the State Peace and Development Council in Burma and the Karen National Union;
	(2)  what recent discussions he has had with the Burmese Government about the establishment of a process for monitoring infringements of the ceasefire between State Peace and Development Council troops and those of the Karen National Union.

Mike O'Brien: When I met the Burmese Ambassador on 23 February, I welcomed the talks between the State Peace and Development Council and the Karen National Union to agree a ceasefire. I hope that these talks will lead to a permanent peace settlement.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the extent of forced labour in Burma.

Mike O'Brien: The Burmese Government have still to address effectively the international community's concerns over the use of forced labour in Burma. In 2002 and 2003 there was a worrying number of credible reports suggesting forced labour was widespread in Burma, especially in the border areas where the military presence remains high. At the International Labour Organization (ILO) Governing Body meeting on 20 November 2003 the EU expressed grave concern at the Burmese Government's failure to take effective action on forced labour and stressed the need to fully implement the recommendations from the ILO High Level Team report of September 2001 without any further delay. The ILO's Governing Body meeting in March 2004 will give further consideration to the situation in Burma.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last had contact with the Karen National Union; and what was discussed.

Mike O'Brien: I have had no direct contact with the Karen National Union.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last communicated with representatives of the State Peace and Development Council in Burma; and what the content of the exchange was.

Mike O'Brien: I met the Burmese Ambassador on 23 February to discuss the State Peace and Development Council plans for a National Convention. I pressed for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners. I stressed the need for an inclusive, transparent National Convention with a clear time-frame. We welcome the move from detention to house arrest of U Tin Oo, but we call for his and Aung San Suu Kyi's full release.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of (a) Karen and (b) Karenni people who have been displaced by the Burmese Army in each of the last three years.

Mike O'Brien: We estimate that approximately 140,000 refugees, mostly from Karen and Karenni States, live in refugee camps on the Thai/Burmese border. As many as one million live as illegal migrants in Thailand. We estimate there are about 630,000 internally displaced people within Burma.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Burma; and what representations he has made to the Burmese Government about the matter.

Mike O'Brien: There has been no significant improvement in the human rights situation in Burma. I regularly raise our concerns on humanitarian issues with the Burmese authorities, most recently when I met the Burmese Ambassador on 23 February. We co-sponsored the UN General Assembly Human Rights Resolution on Burma last December and will play an active role in the forthcoming UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. We strongly support the efforts of the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Sergio Pinheiro.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations his Department has made to the Burmese Government about the need for an independent investigation into the violence perpetrated in Depayin on 30 May 2003.

Mike O'Brien: We have repeatedly condemned the violent regime-sponsored attack on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her convoy on 30 May 2003. The UK co-sponsored the UN General Assembly Resolution on Burma in December 2003 that called on the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to hold a full and independent enquiry into Depayin with international co-operation. We await the SPDC's response.

Burma

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Burmese Government about the fate of the 11 people sentenced to death for high treason under Article 122(1) of the Penal Code.

Mike O'Brien: The UK opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and we, together with European Union partners, call on all countries to abolish the death penalty. The EU Presidency expressed the EU's grave concern over the sentences in a demarche to the Burmese authorities in December.

Corporate Taxation

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Government's policy on the co-ordination of corporate taxation within the European Union.

Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government's view is that fair tax competition is the way forward for Europe, not tax harmonisation. The Government will not support any action at European level that would threaten jobs and investment or damage the competitive position of British business.

Departmental Officials

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which former officials of the Department have asked for permission to join (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte & Touche, (c) Ernst and Young and (d) KPMG.

Mike O'Brien: Since 1998, we are unaware of any former officials of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office who have asked for permission to join Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst and Young or KPMG.
	To locate individual requests from officials earlier than 1998 would incur disproportionate costs.

Guantanamo Bay

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the United Kingdom recognises the legal right of the United States to build and operate a prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Chris Mullin: The extent to which arrangements between the US and Cuba permit the US to build and operate facilities in Guantanamo Bay is primarily a matter for the two Governments concerned.

Guantanamo Bay

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information has been provided to him by (a) the United States Department of Defense and (b) other US authorities in respect of information obtained from the four detainees holding British citizenship being kept in detention at Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay.

Chris Mullin: There are nine British nationals currently detained at Guantanamo Bay.
	In accordance with exemption 1 of Part 2 the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, we do not disclose information received in confidence from a foreign government.

Guantanamo Bay

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the locations where British (a) citizens and (b) residents were detained before being taken to the American prison camp at Guantanamo Bay; on what dates (i) British diplomats and (ii) members of the security and intelligence services visited each detainee; and whether any British (A) citizen and (B) resident being held at Guantanamo Bay has been permitted a visit from a legal representative.

Chris Mullin: In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, we are not in a position to give details of where the British nationals at Guantanamo Bay were detained prior to their transfer there. Exemption 15 of Part 2 the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information applies. British diplomats visited the British detainees in January 2002, February 2002, May 2002, November 2002, April 2003 and September 2003. Officials have questioned the British detainees about matters relevant to national security. The Government have a duty to protect the UK's national security. As far as we are aware, no British nationals or British residents have been permitted a visit from any legal representative.

Hong Kong

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many UK passport holders live in Hong Kong.

Chris Mullin: There are approximately £3.6 million British passport holders living in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when a visit by a Minister in his Department to Hong Kong will next take place; and what talks have taken place with China on a ministerial visit to Hong Kong.

Mike O'Brien: Foreign engagements for my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and other Ministers are kept under constant review. It is not practice to announce such visits until they are firm. Because of the unpredictable nature of world events, final decisions on overseas visits are often not possible until very shortly before the day of travel and occasionally not until they are under way.
	The most recent visit to Hong Kong by a Foreign Office Minister was by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Mr. Rammell) in December 2003.
	Due to the high degree of autonomy afforded to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle, we discuss the timing of ministerial visits to Hong Kong with the SAR Government.

Iran

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent elections in Iran.

Bill Rammell: Over the last 10 years Iran has made progress towards greater political freedom. But the flawed parliamentary elections held on 20 February were a clear setback.
	On 23 February, EU Foreign Ministers expressed their deep regret and disappointment that large numbers of candidates, including many sitting deputies, had been prevented from standing, thus making a genuine democratic choice by the Iranian people impossible. For elections in any country to be regarded as free and fair, electors must have a chance to vote for candidates with a range of views.

Iraq

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether (a) Ministers and (b) officials from (i) his Department and (ii) other Departments have had contact with Mr. Nadhmi Auchi since the conflict in Iraq; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: Pursuant to his answer on 5 January 2004, Official Report, column 84W.
	Since replying, it has been brought to my attention that my noble Friend the Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean wrote to Mr. Nadhmi Auchi on 7 July 2003 in response to his letter to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 15 May 2003 about the Anglo Arab Organisation. United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) officials also met with Mr. Auchi in June 2003, in connection with his role in the Anglo-Arab Organisation and in July sent him a list of their events in the region. Mr. Auchi also sent three invitations to the Prime Minister and his officials, all of whch were declined

Iraq

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the earliest possible date for the holding of elections in Iraq; and what steps he is taking to expedite such an election.

Bill Rammell: The Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, Lakhdar Brahimi, visited Iraq in February to look into the processes and timing of elections. His report, issued on 23 February, made clear that elections were not feasible before the end of 2004 at the earliest. We accept this assessment and stand ready to support the UN and the Iraqis in preparing for elections based on the UN's suggested timetable. We have worked hard with the Iraqis to agree a Transitional Administrative Law, an essential step towards early elections.

Middle East

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the impact of the Israeli separation fence on health service provision in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Bill Rammell: Israel's building of a barrier on occupied territory restricts the free movement of people and essential supplies—including the provision of health services—between the Occupied Territories and Israel and other countries, as well as within the Occupied Territories. We are concerned by reports that a number of Palestinians have been deprived of urgent medical attention as a result of delays at checkpoints. We continue to express our serious concerns over the route and impact of the fence to the Israeli Government. Most recently, my noble Friend the Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean raised the matter with the Israeli Defence Minister, Shaul Mofaz, in London on 12 February.

Radio Free Asia

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the value of Radio Free Asia in (a) communicating news and (b) stimulating political debate.

Mike O'Brien: None.

Secondments

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what secondments (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte & Touche, (c) Ernst & Young and (d) KPMG have made to his Department since 2001; for what (i) periods and (ii) tasks the secondments were made; whether secondments of staff from his Department have been made to those firms; and for what (A) periods and (B) tasks.

Mike O'Brien: According to our records, the following secondments have been made into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office:
	a. PricewaterhouseCoopers
	(i) One person from 1 April 2000 to 1 April 2001
	(ii) Based in Management Consultancy Services in the FCO.
	b. Deloitte & Touche
	(i) No inward secondments
	c. Ernst & Young
	(i) No inward secondments
	d. KPMG
	(i) One person from 1 June 2000—1 June 2001
	(ii) Based in the IT Strategy Unit (ITSU), FCO.
	Our records show that no officers have been seconded to these companies since 2001.

Uganda

Bob Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to seek to end the conflict in Northern Uganda.

Chris Mullin: We deplore the violence perpetrated against innocent civilians by the Lord's Resistance Army in the north of Uganda. We continue to encourage the Ugandan Government to seek a peaceful resolution to this conflict and to take steps to improve prospects for dialogue.
	UK support to date has focussed on humanitarian assistance (£8.4 million in the last twelve months); targeted support to reconciliation processes; promotion of human rights, international humanitarian law, and supporting the role of civil society and improving international donor coordination.
	We continue to keep in close contact with the Government of Uganda and the international community to see what more we can do to help.

Uganda

Bob Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he is taking to obtain the support of international organisations to address the conflict in Northern Uganda.

Chris Mullin: We are working closely with the international community and organisations to improve donor coordination and support a resolution of the conflict in northern Uganda. The UK was instrumental in the founding of the Donor Technical Group on the North in Kampala and currently holds the position of Deputy Chair of the Group. This is widely seen as the most important co-ordinating forum on donor responses to the conflict and has contributed to the development of agreed approaches and programmes in support of conflict resolution.

Uganda

Bob Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what meetings his Department has had with the Ugandan Government regarding the conflict in the north of the country.

Chris Mullin: We continue to raise the conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army with the Government of Uganda at official and ministerial level. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and I discussed the situation in northern Uganda with President Museveni during his visit to London on 29 January. We urged President Museveni to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict. We encouraged him to take steps to improve prospects for dialogue. Our High Commissioner in Kampala is in constant touch with the Ugandan President about this issue.

Uganda

Bob Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to prevent the abduction of children in Northern Uganda by the Lord's Resistance Army.

Chris Mullin: The vast majority of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighters are the innocent children of civilians, abducted and forced to fight against their will. The degree of violence and the practice of making children a main target of their war is deeply repellent. We are supporting efforts to seek a resolution to this conflict and providing support to rehabilitate children who escape their LRA captors. Over the last year the UK has given £1.3 million to UNICEF and Save the Children Fund for relief activities, and their work to protect children at risk of abduction and to reintegrate child ex-combatants into society.

United Nations

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government's policy is on the establishment of a United Nations council for sustainable and human development.

Bill Rammell: The UK believes the UN has an important role to play in promoting sustainable and human development. We believe the key is to strengthen the effectiveness and co-ordination of existing organisations, rather than creating new ones.
	The Millennium Declaration in 2000 and the World Summit for Sustainable Development in 2002 established concrete measures for judging performance on sustainable development through the Millennium Development Goals and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The UK is now working at the national and international level to meet these commitments. The UK provides substantial support for those UN bodies dealing with sustainable and human development.
	The UK believes the UN must change to better reflect current demands, and is taking part in the continuing discussion on reform of the UN system. As part of this process we are looking at the work of those UN bodies dealing with sustainable and human development.

United Nations

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will support the launch of an international convention for the reform of the United Nations in 2005.

Bill Rammell: We do not see the need for new mechanisms to reform the United Nations, as we would prefer to work through existing processes. The UK is a strong advocate of reform at the United Nations. The effectiveness of the organisation must be enhanced to ensure that the UN is able to meet the challenges currently facing the international community. Our priorities are a Security Council that deals effectively with the full range of threats to international peace and security: we welcome the establishment by the Secretary-General of a High Level Panel to look at this issue. We are supporting efforts to revitalise the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, and moves to reform the development agencies. We have also strongly supported Kofi Annan's 2002 proposals to improve the UN Secretariat and its budgetary procedures. We believe that these existing processes will lead to an organisation better equipped to meet current challenges.

Zimbabwe

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the regulations on presidential powers issued this month by the Zimbabwe Government; and what representations he has made about them.

Chris Mullin: The regulations provide for the automatic detention in custody for nine days for people charged with a wide range of political and economic crimes, including those charged with advocating and organising violence, boycotts or civil disobedience under the Public Order and Security Act. They could be used to harass members of civic society, the independent media and ZANU (PF)'s political opponents.
	At the General Affairs and Economic Relations Council on 23 February, EU Foreign Ministers issued a strong statement condemning the Government of Zimbabwe for its human rights abuses.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Basic Skills Training

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many adults he plans should participate in learning and skills training up to their first level 2 in each year from 2003 to 2006.

Ivan Lewis: We expect around 475,000 adults to participate in learning up to their first full level 2 funded by the public sector between 2003 and 2006. In addition there will be a number of learners participating in privately funded learning. We expect this privately funded learning to deliver around 180,000 adults with a first full level 2 between 2003 and 2006.
	Taken together with the change in the levels of qualifications of people in the workforce through young people entering the labour market (as adults) and replacing poorer qualified retirees, we expect this level of participation to enable us to meet our commitment to increase the number of adults with a full level 2 qualification by 1 million between 2003 and 2006.

Broadband

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools have a broadband connection.

Charles Clarke: As at December 2003, 41 per cent. of primary schools and 98 per cent. of secondary schools (49 per cent. of all schools), in England, were connected to broadband compared to just one in eight two years ago. This data has been extracted from LEA connectivity statistics.

Computer Access

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what successor schemes there are to the Computers in Reach scheme; and what support is in place to maintain equipment acquired under that scheme.

Charles Clarke: holding answer 2 March 2004
	The Computers Within Reach Scheme closed on 31 October 2001 having delivered over 24,000 recycled computers to people in 22 pilot areas, at a cost of £7.1 million over two years. Those eligible were in receipt of certain working age benefits or a State Pension with minimum income guarantee.
	An evaluation was conducted, and copies have been placed in the House of Commons Library. The report highlighted a number of difficulties. In view of these difficulties, we considered carefully whether to repeat the scheme against alternatives that might provide more effective access to ICT and learning opportunities for those currently without access.
	At the time it was decided to channel the remaining £7.9 million into purchasing wireless technology equipment and laptops for Adult and Community Learning Centres serving deprived wards around the country.
	There are no current plans to initiate any similar projects.
	Each individual who received a refurbished computer from one of the contracted suppliers would as part of the agreement receive a one year warranty with the machine. All costs for maintenance and upgrades would then fall to the owner when the years warranty expired.

Departmental Running Costs

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the running costs of his Department were for each year since 2000–01; what his estimate is of annual expenditure up to 2005–06; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Clarke: Details of the Department's gross administrative expenditure for 2000–01 to 2005–06 are contained in Table 5.1 of Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2003 (Cm 5901). The figures are on a resource basis. Figures for 2000–01 and 2001–02 were published in Table 5.5 of Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2000–01 (Cm 4601) but these are on a cash basis.

Disabled Children

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to improve the statistics he collects on (a) the number of disabled children, (b) the type of disability affecting each child, (c) the severity and combination of their disabilities, (d) the levels of service provided for disabled children and (e) the adequacy of these services.

Stephen Twigg: The Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) took place last month. For the first time the Department collected the Special Educational Needs (SEN) type, for those pupils with statements or who are classified as "school action plus". This will enable us to examine the background factors associated with particular SEN types and the attainment patterns at various Key Stages of particular groups of pupils. Since many pupils with SEN have multiple needs the data collected records their primary and secondary need.
	As for levels and adequacy of services, OfSTED will be reporting to the Secretary of State in 2005 on how well schools in general are carrying out the duties which were brought in by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001. These duties focus on inclusion, providing protection from discrimination for disabled pupils and strategic planning to improve access to schools for disabled pupils. There is a clear expectation that these duties will lead to improvements in the services provided to disabled children at school.
	We have improved the information we collect about the number of disabled children supported by social services through the Children in Need (CIN) Census, which shows the number of disabled children reported in the survey week who received a service during that week. The last survey was carried out in February 2003, with the local authority results from this due to be published on 26 February. (The previous survey was carried out in September/October 2001.) The results are published and shown by local authority, although not collected by type of disability nor what type of service they received.
	Further information on data collection by type of SEN can be found at http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/sen/datatypes.

Education and Youth Council

Jimmy Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the outcome was of the Education and Youth Council held on 26 February; what the Government's stance was on the issues discussed, including its voting record; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Johnson: The Education, Youth and Culture Council on 26 February adopted the joint Commission/Council interim report on the detailed work programme on the follow-up to the Lisbon Objectives on education and training systems in Europe for transmission to the 2004 Spring European Council.
	The proposal for a Decision to establish "Europass", a single transparency tool for qualifications and competences was discussed. This part of the discussion was held in public and televised. The Irish Presidency are aiming to reach a Common Position on this by May 2004.
	The Council adopted a number of items without discussion. These included the Decision establishing new rules for the Advisory Committee on Vocational Training (ACVT), to take account of EU enlargement.
	The Commission announced that it would be adopting a Communication next month on the next generation of education spending programmes. This Communication will set out the Commission's proposals for the next phase of Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and Tempus, (2007–2013).
	The Commission presented its Report on the follow-up to the Recommendation of the European Parliament and Council on mobility within the Community of students, persons undergoing training, volunteers and teachers and trainers.
	Over lunch, progress on the 2004 European Year of Education through Sport was discussed. This is intended to showcase and promote the role of physical education and school sport, in particular its contribution to whole school standards and developing citizenship.

Educational Maintenance Allowances

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the (a) cost and (b) likely effect on participation rates of extending educational maintenance allowances to those engaged in part-time study.

Ivan Lewis: The minimum attendance requirement for EMA is only 12 guided learning hours per week, so the main evaluation of the pilot scheme has assessed impact on part-time as well as full-time study. We do not plan to extend EMA to those studying for less than 12 hours. The evidence from the evaluation also indicates that with EMA, young people are able to establish a better balance between part-time work and their studies.

Examinations

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of pupils in (a) Greater London and (b) each London borough achieved three grade As or above at A Level in each of the last five years.

David Miliband: The information requested is as follows:
	Part (a):
	The percentage of 16–18 year old A level candidates achieving at least three grade As at A level in Greater London in 1999 to 2003:
	
		
			 Year Percentage 
		
		
			 1999 3.8 
			 2000 4.4 
			 2001 4.5 
			 2002 4.8 
			 2003 5.1 
		
	
	Part (b):
	The percentage of 16–18 year old A level candidates achieving at least three grade As at A level in each Local Education Authority in London in 1999 to 2003:
	
		
			  1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Inner London 2.7 3.0 3.0 2.7 2.9 
			 Camden 4.4 5.7 5.7 5.4 5.1 
			 Hackney 0.5 0.6 1.1 0.7 0.9 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 3.6 7.0 4.3 3.6 5.0 
			 Haringey 2.5 4.2 2.9 3.2 4.6 
			 Islington 1.9 1.8 1.3 1.1 0.5 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 5.9 2.0 2.6 4.5 6.9 
			 Lambeth 1.0 0.0 1.1 0.0 3.8 
			 Lewisham 2.2 2.5 3.7 2.4 2.4 
			 Newham 1.3 1.9 1.5 2.8 1.3 
			 Southwark 0.0 2.4 1.1 1.0 0.4 
			 Tower Hamlets 0.5 0.3 0.6 1.0 0.1 
			 Wandsworth 3.1 2.7 3.3 1.8 3.2 
			 Westminster, City of 2.2 1.8 3.3 3.5 2.9 
			   
			 Outer London 4.1 4.9 5.0 5.5 5.9 
			 Barking and Dagenham 1.0 1.5 1.1 2.6 1.6 
			 Barnet 7.5 8.3 8.1 9.3 10.8 
			 Bexley 2.8 3.9 5.0 5.6 5.4 
			 Brent 3.4 3.8 3.7 5.2 4.3 
			 Bromley 3.9 5.4 5.9 5.7 6.3 
			 Croydon 2.2 2.3 2.0 2.4 3.0 
			 Ealing 1.7 3.8 4.5 2.8 5.9 
			 Enfield 5.3 5.7 4.8 5.7 5.2 
			 Greenwich 1.7 3.0 1.3 1.4 2.3 
			 Harrow 2.6 3.7 2.8 3.6 4.7 
			 Havering 4.6 4.3 4.1 5.9 4.6 
			 Hillingdon 3.3 5.3 4.5 3.0 4.5 
			 Hounslow 2.0 2.7 2.3 3.4 2.6 
			 Kingston upon Thames 5.0 8.0 10.7 7.8 8.7 
			 Merton 3.7 4.4 1.0 4.6 4.7 
			 Redbridge 6.1 5.9 6.0 6.1 8.5 
			 Richmond upon Thames 3.6 4.2 3.9 4.6 5.6 
			 Sutton 8.0 8.8 9.7 13.7 11.2 
			 Waltham Forest 1.6 1.1 2.3 2.1 1.8

Examinations

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the value added between Key Stage 3 and GCSE/GNVQ for schools in (a) Ribble Valley and Fulwood and (b) Lancashire was excluding the results of specialist schools.

David Miliband: The following table shows the 2003 Key Stage 3 to GCSE/GNVQ Value Added measures for (a) Ribble Valley parliamentary constituency and (b) Lancashire local education authority when (1) Specialist schools are included and (2) Specialist schools are excluded. Figures are based on maintained schools only:
	
		
			  (a) Ribble Valley (b) Lancashire LEA 
		
		
			 (1) Specialist schools included  
			 KS3-GCSE/GNVQ VA measure 99.0 98.8 
			 (Number of schools) (10) (118) 
			
			 (2) Specialist schools excluded  
			 KS3-GCSE/GNVQ VA measure 99.0 98.5 
			 (Number of schools) (6) (85) 
		
	
	These figures represent the results of one particular cohort of pupils, showing their value-added over the two years leading up to GCSE. School and LEA figures are also available in the school performance tables covering pupil value-added over the three years leading up to KS3. Similar information for each of these key stages was also published for the 2002 cohorts. Any assessment of whether particular schools or types of school are more effective than others should take into account this wider picture, as well as recognising that small differences in VA scores may not indicate significant differences in effectiveness.

School Fire Alarms

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills who is responsible for ensuring that fire alarms in schools comply with legislation and regulations.

David Miliband: Under health and safety legislation responsibility for fire safety, including the maintenance of fire alarm systems, rests with the employer. With community schools, community special schools, voluntary controlled schools, maintained nursery schools and pupil referral units, the employer is the local education authority. For foundation schools, foundation special schools and voluntary aided schools, the employer is usually the governing body. With independent schools, the employer is usually the governing body or proprietor.

Kurdish

Jenny Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to allow students in UK schools to take Kurdish at GCSE level.

Charles Clarke: The decision whether or not to offer particular subjects at GCSE is one for the awarding bodies which are independent commercial enterprises. They do not currently offer a GCSE in Kurdish. The Department has no power to prescribe that subjects outside of the statutory national curriculum should be available at GCSE. For some areas of study, such as Kurdish, which are likely to have a relatively low number of candidates, the cost of providing an examination would be an important consideration for the awarding bodies.

Vocational Qualifications

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether level 2 entitlements for adults are available to individuals who are economically inactive.

Ivan Lewis: As we said in our Skills Strategy White Paper, "21st Century Skills", we will create a new guarantee of free tuition for any adult without a good foundation of employability skills to get the training they need to achieve such a qualification at level 2. We intend that it will apply to those in the workforce or of working age—including the economically inactive who are seeking those employability skills—who do not already have a full level 2 qualification, and who commit to trying to achieve one. The Government already waive tuition fees for certain categories of adults receiving income-based benefits such as income support, housing and council tax benefits and those undertaking basic skills learning. Many colleges also offer free or discounted learning for other groups of people including those not on state benefits.

Medical Students

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students entered universities to study medicine in (a) 1992, (b) 1997, (c) 2001 and (d) 2003.

Alan Johnson: The available figures are given in the table and cover accepted applicants through the Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS).
	
		Accepted applicants through UCAS to pre-medicine study at UK institutions
		
			 Year of entry Number 
		
		
			 1992 4,425 
			 1997 5,029 
			 2001 6,240 
			 2002 6,959 
		
	
	Source:
	The Universities Central Council on Admissions (1992) and Universities and Colleges Admissions Service.

Postgraduate Education

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the proposals for higher education on the number of students choosing to continue in postgraduate education.

Alan Johnson: As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills stated in the Second Reading debate on 27 January, there will be a review by an independent commission, reporting to Parliament directly on the impact of the new fee regime three years after implementation. Evaluation of the impact on postgraduate education will be considered as part of that review.
	My right hon. Friend has also commissioned a report to examine the Gateways into the Professions which will be led by Sir Alan Langlands. The report will examine how the public sector and the professions can sustain and improve recruitment opportunities for graduates, especially those who do not qualify for the full £3000 support. Sir Alan will be reporting to us by mid 2005.

Pupil Numbers

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils were on the roll in each secondary school in Newcastle upon Tyne in each year since April 2000; and what percentage of those students (a) were eligible for and (b) took up free school meals.

David Miliband: The available data are shown in the table.
	
		Maintained secondary schools(37): School meal arrangements Newcastle upon Tyne local education authority area—Position in January each year
		
			  Number on roll(38) , (39) Number known to be eligible for free meals Percentage known to be eligible for free meals Pupils taking free school meals Percentage taking free school meals 
		
		
			 2000 17,874 4,572 25.6 3,123 17.5 
			 2001 18,071 4,573 25.3 2,988 16.5 
			 2002 17,805 4,190 23.5 2,783 15.6  
			 2003 17,808 4,213 23.7 2,890 16.2 
		
	
	(37) Includes middle schools as deemed.
	(38) Includes dually registered pupils.
	(39) For 2000–02 excludes boarding pupils.
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census
	It is the Department's current policy not to publish school level information unless the schools concerned have had the opportunity to confirm the information available through processes such as the performance tables. Information on free school meals has not been confirmed in this way.

Pupil Numbers

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children were being educated at each key stage in the Romsey constituency in each school year since 1997–98.

David Miliband: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		Maintained primary and secondary schools: number of pupils by key stage(40) , (41)—Position in January each year 1997 to 2003 Romsey parliamentary constituency
		
			  Primary Secondary 
			  Key stage 1(42) Key stage 2(43) Key stage 3(44) Key stage 4(45) 
		
		
			  
			  
			 1997 2,020 3,960 4,140 2,730 
			 1998 2,010 4,010 4,140 2,710 
			 1999 2,010 4,020 4,260 2,700 
			 2000 1,930 4,120 4,350 2,720 
			 2001 1,850 4,090 4,470 2,810 
			 2002 1,750 4,020 4,490 2,860 
			 2003 1,850 4,070 4,470 2,910 
		
	
	(40) Key stage based on pupils' age.
	(41) Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
	(42) Pupils aged 5 and 6 at the start of the academic year.
	(43) Pupils aged 7, 8, 9 and 10 at the start of the academic year.
	(44) Pupils aged 11, 12 and 13 at the start of the academic year.
	(45) Pupils aged 14 and 15 at the start of the academic year.
	Source:
	Annual Schools' Census

Recruitment Advertising

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his Department's expenditure on recruitment advertising was in each of the last three years, broken down by publication; and what proportion of such expenditure was (a) to advertise vacant posts and (b) in the form of other general recruitment advertising.

Stephen Twigg: My Department uses the most appropriate national, regional, trade magazine publication or website for recruitment advertising, depending on the nature of the vacancy to be filled. The media used most regularly included the Guardian/Observer, Times/Sunday Times, TES, Economist, Ethnic Media Group and Personnel Publications.
	The following table gives the advertising costs for Civil Servants recruited to work within my Department for the years 2001/02 and 2002/03. The figures represent a significant investment in bringing into the Department, at a senior level, people with delivery skills and experience in the wider education and skills sector and beyond.
	The Department for Education and Skills was established in June 2001 and therefore the figures quoted for 2001/02 are from June 2001–March 2002. The figures for 2002/03 are for a complete financial year.
	
		£
		
			  2001/02 2002/03 
		
		
			 Central Recruitment relating to Grades AA–Grade 6 187,890.24 134,016.11 
			 Senior Civil Service Recruitment 111,266.54 256,669.66 
			 Totals 299,156.78 390,685.77

Recruitment Advertising

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much his Department has spent on recruitment advertising in each year since 1997.

Charles Clarke: The following table gives the advertising costs for civil servants recruited to work within my Department for the years 2001/02 and 2002/03. The figures represent a significant investment in bringing into the Department, at a senior level, people with delivery skills and experience in the wider education and skills sector and beyond.
	The Department for Education and Skills was established in June 2001 and therefore the figures quoted for 2001/02 are from June 2001-March 2002. The figures for 2002/03 are for a complete financial year.
	
		£
		
			  2001/02 2002/03 
		
		
			 Central recruitment relating to Grades AA–Grade 6 187,890.24 134,016.11 
			 Senior civil service recruitment 111,266.54 256,669.66 
			 Total 299,156.78 390,685.77

School Buildings (Cleethorpes)

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list (a) new schools, (b) major building projects and (c) major refurbishments to schools in Cleethorpes constituency since 1997.

David Miliband: The majority of capital support is allocated to schools and local education authorities (LEAs) by formula, and they decide how to invest it in line with their asset management plans. The Department does not, therefore, have complete information about all the new schools, major building projects and major refurbishments in Cleethorpes. This information should be held locally. However, the following table shows the total capital support provided by this Government for school buildings in North East Lincolnshire LEA and North Lincolnshire LEA since 1997–98.
	
		£ million
		
			  North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire 
		
		
			 1997–98 0.858 0.950 
			 1998–99 2.987 2.635 
			 1999–2000 3.137 2.241 
			 2000–01 5.550 5.856 
			 2001–02 3.599 10.019 
			 2002–03 7.993 9.945 
			 2003–04 7.718 6.113 
		
	
	We have to date, also allocated indicative funding for future years worth approximately £7.248 million in 2004–05 and £3.366 million in 2005–06 for North East Lincolnshire, and £10.051 million in 2004–05 and £2.542 in 2005–06 for North Lincolnshire.

School Funding (Greater London)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the (a) schools funding spending share, (b) school pupil numbers and (c) schools funding spending share per pupil was in (i) Greater London and (ii) each London borough in each year since 1997.

David Miliband: Education Formula Spending Share (EFSS) replaced the former Education SSA in 2003–04. There is no equivalent to Schools Formula Spending Share (SFSS) in years prior to 2003–04 so information is given in tables showing EFSS and SSA, pupil numbers and EFSS/SSA per pupil in Greater London and for each London borough since 1997. A copy of the tables has been placed in the Library.

School Sports Facilities

James Purnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent discussions he has had with universities on the opening of their sports facilities for out-of-hours community use.

Alan Johnson: There have been no discussions with universities on the opening of their sports facilities for out-of-hours community use. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are autonomous organisations and it is up to individual institutions to decide on the degree of public use of their sports facilities. This will vary depending on the type of facilities, the requirements of the local community and the needs of the institutions. However, I am aware that universities are already increasingly engaged in this type of activity.

Special Schools

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the age profile of teachers in special schools is; and how many newly qualified teachers were recruited by these schools in the last year for which figures are available.

David Miliband: holding answer 1 March 2004
	There were 100 newly qualified 1 entrants to full or part-time service in maintained special schools in England between March 2001 and March 2002.
	The following table shows regular qualified teachers in full-time service in maintained special schools in England by age, at March 2002:
	1 Includes conventional and employment based training routes.
	
		Special schools
		
			 Age Number 
		
		
			 Under 25 80 
			 25–29 690 
			 30–34 950 
			 35–39 1,190 
			 40–44 1,830 
			 45–49 3,380 
			 50–54 3,260 
			 55–59 1,370 
			 60 and over 160 
			 All ages 12,910 
		
	
	Provisional data:
	Database of Teacher Records

Specialist Schools

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of bids for specialist school status made by (a) faith schools, (b) non-faith schools, (c) faith schools with a comprehensive intake, (d) non-faith schools with a comprehensive intake, (e) Church of England schools, (f) Roman Catholic schools, (g) grammar schools and (h) Roman Catholic grammar schools have been successful.

David Miliband: holding answer 1 March 2004
	The following table shows specialist school applications over the last two years.
	
		Specialist school applications
		
			 Type of school Number of applications(46) Percentage of applications successful  
		
		
			 Faith schools 249 58.2 
			 Non-faith schools 1,179 60.4 
			 Faith schools with a comprehensive intake 217 66.8 
			 Non-faith schools with a comprehensive intake 1,036 59.9 
			 Church of England schools 71 56.3 
			 Roman Catholic schools 172 58.7 
			 Grammar schools 87 70.1 
			 Roman Catholic grammar schools (47)7 14.3 
		
	
	(46) These figures include some schools which have applied on more than one occasion.
	(47) Given the small sample size, this data should be interpreted with caution.
	The selection process for the Specialist Schools Programme is robust and transparent.
	It is open to all maintained secondary schools and our aim is that all schools that are ready should become specialist.
	All unsuccessful applicant schools receive detailed written feedback based on independent assessments. The Specialist Schools Trust and Youth Sport Trust provide a range of support to these and other aspiring specialist schools.

Student Drop-out Rates

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research his Department has commissioned into (a) student drop-out rates in the poorest communities and (b) the impact of benefit rules on students dropping out of access courses.

Alan Johnson: We are not aware of research into student drop-out rates in the poorest communities. However, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has found that levels of non-completion are correlated only very weakly, if at all, with social class after taking into account prior academic record (see HEFCE submission to the Education and Employment Committee, Sixth Report, 13 March 2001, HC 124, page 121). Other research has reached similar conclusions. Examples include:
	"Right Choice? A follow-up to 'Making the Right Choice'", Connor H., Pearson R., Pollard E., Tyers C., Willison R. Universities UK 2001 http://www.emplovment-studies.co.uk/pubs/report.php?id=1427uuk
	"Dropping Out: A study of early leavers from Higher Education" Rhys Davies and Peter Elias, DfES Research Report 386 http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/
	Research shows that non-completion is a complex process that cannot normally be explained by any single factor. The reasons (many of which are inter-related) why people leave higher education include:
	incompatibility between the student and their course or institution;
	lack of preparation for higher education;
	lack of commitment to the course;
	financial hardship;
	poor academic progress; and
	health or other personal reasons.
	The Department is not aware of research into the impact of benefit rules on students dropping out of access courses.
	The UK non-completion rate has stayed broadly the same at around 17–18 per cent. since 1991–92 and this fell to just over 16 per cent. in the figures published in December 2003 by HEFCE. This represents one of the highest completion rates in the OECD and we are determined to maintain this level of performance.
	HEFCE has allocated £225 million to institutions in 2003–04 for widening access and improving retention and recognises some of the additional costs of supporting students from non-traditional backgrounds and those who are less well prepared for higher education.

Teachers (Retirement)

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to raise the normal retirement age for teachers to 65; what estimate he has made of the cost savings from raising the pension age to 65; and if he will make a statement.

David Miliband: The retirement age of teachers is covered in the contract of employment between the teacher and their employer. Issues relating to contractual retirement ages are still under consideration in the light of the policy on encouraging longer working lifetimes in the Green Paper (GM 5865) "Simplicity, security and choice: Working and saving for retirement. Action on occupational pensions"; and considerations on how legislation on age discrimination under the EU Employment Directive EC78/2000 will be implemented in the UK.
	The provisions of the Teachers' Pension Scheme are currently under review in consultation with representatives of teacher and employer associations. This review is being conducted in the context of proposals to increase the normal pension age (ie the age at which scheme members can access an unreduced pension) to 65. It is proposed that the higher pension age would apply to new teachers from 2006 and to the future service of existing teachers from 2013. The impact on scheme costs of the increase in the normal pension age and any improvements that may be made to the existing provisions of the TPS will be assessed by the Government Actuary as options are worked up in consultation with teacher and employer representatives.

Training Boards

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the annual cost to public funds is of the (a) Construction Industry Training Board and (b) Engineering Construction Industry Training Board; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The operating costs of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) are funded from a levy on the employers in the industries they cover.
	They may receive public funding from government departments or agencies to support employer training through the delivery of particular projects or initiatives. In the financial year ended December 2003 the CITB received a total of £41,685,000 and the ECITB received £1,494,000. The vast majority of this was Learning and Skills Council funding to support the delivery of Modern Apprenticeships.

Undergraduates

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many undergraduate students there were in the United Kingdom on the latest date for which figures are available broken down by (a) age, (b) nature of course and (c) type of institution.

Alan Johnson: The available figures are given in the table.
	
		All undergraduate students enrolled at UK institutions, 2002/03
		
			  Pre-1992 Of which: Russell group(48) Post-1992 
			 Age 1st degree Other UG 1st degree Other UG 1st degree Other UG 
		
		
			 Up to 20 years 332,673 18,565 164,300 6,165 201,829 33,816 
			 21–24 years 125,991 31,785 59,305 9,118 131,420 31,147 
			 25 years plus 51,845 257,405 15,934 44,109 102,069 105,671 
			 Total 510,509 307,755 239,539 59,392 435,318 170,634 
		
	
	(48) The Russell Group includes the Universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield, Southampton, Warwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, King's College London, University College London and the London School of Economics and Political Science.
	Source:
	Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and Learning Skills Council (LSC)
	
		
			  Other HEIs FEIs(49) Total 
			 Age 1st degree Other UG 1st degree Other UG 1st degree Other UG 
		
		
			 Up to 20 years 65,342 11,389 5,621 49,810 605,465 113,580 
			 21–24 years 35,934 8,599 4,238 30,626 297,583 102,157 
			 25 years plus 27,967 32,483 7,428 107,536 189,309 503,095 
			 Total 129,243 52,471 17,287 187,972 1,092,357 718,832 
		
	
	(49) Figures for HE study in FE institutions have been carried over from 2001/02 until figures for 2002/03 are available.
	Source:
	Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and Learning Skills Council (LSC)

Transitional Funding

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  which local education authorities have submitted bids for additional transitional funding to assist schools and local education authorities with financial problems;
	(2)  what criteria has been set down for allocating the transitional relief which has been awarded to local education authorities to help schools with budget difficulties.

David Miliband: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Benefit Payments

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of likely reasons for the increase in Income Support and Jobseekers's Allowance overpayments to non-pensioners owing to official error; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Pond: holding answer 25 February 2004
	The loss from fraud and error in Income Support (IS) and Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) reduced to 7.3 per cent. in March 2003, compared to the 10.4 per cent. September 1998 baseline figure. This is the lowest ever level of loss recorded and builds on our previous achievements. We have now reduced by 30 per cent. the loss for people of working age receiving IS or JSA.
	The Department estimates that the rate of overpayment in IS and JSA due to official error was 1.9 per cent. of expenditure for the period April 2002 March 2003. The equivalent figure in the previous year, for the period April 2001 to March 2002, was 1.8 per cent.
	The increase of 0.1 per cent. is very small compared to the margins of sampling error around the two estimates. Furthermore, a change in the methodology between 2001–02 and 2002–03 increased the estimate of official error by 0.1 per cent. In these circumstances we cannot conclude that there has been a real increase in the underlying rate of official error. Further details on the methodology change will be provided in the next National Statistics report which is due to be published in March 2004.

Child Support Agency

Peter Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measures are available to the Child Support Agency to enforce payment; and in how many cases these have been invoked in each of the last five years.

Chris Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Peter Viggers, dated 3 March 2004
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary questions about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked what measures are available to the Child Support Agency to enforce payment; and in how many cases these have been invoked in each of the last five years.
	Where a non-resident parent chooses not to pay child maintenance we will seek to discuss this by telephone when we will remind them of their legal responsibility. If there is still no adequate response and the non-resident parent is employed we will usually seek to implement, through the employer, a deduction from earnings. If the non-resident parent is self-employed, or has other forms of income, we can take action through the courts. This firstly involves establishing a liability order—normally through the Magistrates Court. When that is established we can then deploy a range of alternative enforcement mechanisms, including:
	Levying of distress involving the use of Bailiffs;
	Establishing a third party debt order—allowing money owed to the debtor to be frozen and sent to us to cover the outstanding debt;
	Establishing a charging order—registering the debt against certain assets owned by the debtor;
	Registering a County Court judgement, which may affect the debtors credit rating;
	Applying for a warrant to commit the debtor to prison or for an order preventing them from holding or obtaining a driving licence.
	The process and subsequent actions vary slightly in Scotland.
	In the last four years we have applied a deduction from earnings in the following number of cases. We do not hold reliable data prior to 1999/2000.
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1999/2000 121,074 
			 2000/2001 51,673 
			 2001/2002 64,584 
			 2002/2003 113,120 
		
	
	The table below shows the number of cases that were referred by caseworkers for further specialist enforcement action.
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1999/2000 7,663 
			 2000/2001 3,561 
			 2001/2002 3,546 
			 2002/2003 8,054 
		
	
	I hope this is helpful.

Child Support Agency

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to amend Child Support Agency regulations to disregard from maintenance calculations the service overseas allowances paid to members of Her Majesty's Armed Forces.

Chris Pond: No. Child Support regulations already provide that allowances which are exempt from tax, such as the Local Overseas Allowance, are disregarded for the purposes of maintenance calculations.

Funeral Payments

Archy Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether funeral payments have been made to help with costs incurred of funerals arranged overseas since 1997.

Chris Pond: The information is not available.
	Since 1997, people with the right to reside in the UK, under European Economic Community directives, may receive help for the cost of a funeral that takes place in the European economic area or Switzerland.
	As long as the other conditions of entitlement are satisfied a funeral payment may be made equivalent to that which would have been paid if the funeral had taken place in the UK. The Department does not collect centrally information regarding the number of funeral payments made for funerals held outside the UK.

New Deal

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of the New Deal for Employment was in each year from 2001–02 to 2005–06 (planned); and if he will make a statement.

Des Browne: The information is in the table.
	
		New Deal costs(50) -- £ million
		
			  2001–02 2002–03(51) 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 
			  Outturn Forecast outturn Plans Plans Plans 
		
		
			 New Deal for Young People 308 339 340 320 320 
			 New Deal 25 plus 213 254 255 259 261 
			 New Deal 50 plus 87 106 56 16 10 
			 New Deal for Lone Parents 46 80 82 109 116 
			 New Deal for Disabled People 10 27 27 27 27 
			 New Deal for partners 8 6 11 26 39 
		
	
	(50) Includes programme and administrative spend.
	(51) Figures are rounded to the nearest million.
	Source:
	Department for Work and Pensions Departmental Report 2003

New Deal

Archy Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when elements of the Regulated Social Fund have been increased and by how much in (a) cash and (b) real terms; what research he has conducted on the cost of a simple, respectful and low cost funeral in each of the last six years; how many people have received funeral payments since 1997; and what the average award was in each year.

Chris Pond: Funeral payments from the Social Fund cover, in full, the cost of certain necessary charges; these include fees levied by burial authorities and crematoria. An additional sum is allowed for other funeral expenses, which give the person arranging the funeral the freedom to select items or services they consider appropriate. This additional sum was increased to a maximum of £700 from 7 April 2003.
	The total average funeral payment in 2002–03 was £929. The amount awarded in many cases can be much higher but this is often offset by money available from the deceased's assets, which may be taken into account.
	The available information is in the table.
	
		Number and average amount of Social Fund funeral payments since 1997 -- £
		
			  Number of funeral payments Average amount paid 
		
		
			 1997–98 48,000 792 
			 1998–99 46,000 839 
			 1999–2000 44,000 866 
			 2000–01 40,000 892 
			 2001–02 42,000 909 
			 2002–03 45,000 929 
		
	
	Note
	Number of funeral payments is rounded to the nearest thousand
	Source:
	DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System
	The Department does not collect information on the cost of funeral services, however the amount of a funeral payment is kept under review and we continue to consult with representatives from funeral directors' associations, church groups and other interested organisations.
	The available information regarding increases in elements of the regulated Social Fund is in the table.
	
		Regulated Social Fund prescribed elements in cash and real terms since 1997 -- £
		
			  Cash terms Real terms 2003–04 prices 
		
		
			  Sure Start Maternity Grant 
			 1997–98 100 116 
			 1998–99 100 113 
			 1999–2000 100 110 
			 2000–01 200 218 
			 2000–01 300 327 
			 2001–02 300 318 
			 2002–03 500 514 
			 2003–04 500 500 
			
			 Funeral Payment   
			 1997–98 600 696 
			 1998–99 600 676 
			 1999–2000 600 662 
			 2000–01 600 653 
			 2001–02 600 637 
			 2002–03 600 616 
			 2003–04 700 700 
			
			 Cold Weather Payment 
			 1997–98 8.50 9.86 
			 1998–99 8.50 9.58 
			 1999–2000 8.50 9.38 
			 2000–01 8.50 9.26 
			 2001–02 8.50 9.02 
			 2002–03 8.50 8.73 
			 2003–04 8.50 8.50 
			  Winter fuel payment (IS/JSA(IB) with pensioner premium) 
			 1997–98 50 58 
			 1998–99 50 56 
			 1999–2000 100 110 
			 2000–01 200 218 
			 2001–02 200 212 
			 2002–03 200 205 
			 2003–04 200 200 
			
			  Winter fuel payment (other eligible) 
			 1997–98 20 23 
			 1998–99 20 23 
			 1999–2000 100 110 
			 2000–01 200 218 
			 2001–02 200 212 
			 2002–03 200 205 
			 2003–04 200 200 
			
			 80 plus annual payment 
			 2003–04 100 100 
		
	
	Note:
	Real terms prices have been calculated using the GDP deflator issued by HMT on 23 Dec 2003
	Source:
	DWP Figures

Student Loans

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  whether student loans can be taken into account in calculating other benefits for (a) the student and (b) the student's spouse or partner;
	(2)  whether Jobseeker's Allowance eligibility is affected by the claimant's partner's student loan.

Chris Pond: holding answer 3 February 2004
	Income related benefits are intended to help people whose resources are insufficient to meet their day to day living expenses; any income available to meet those expenses is normally taken into account when working out how much benefit can be paid.
	A person in receipt of an income related benefit, including JSA (income based), Income Support, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit will therefore have their or their partner's student loan taken into account when calculating the amount of benefit payable. Up to £605 of a student loan may be disregarded to take into account costs of travel, books and equipment.
	Benefits that are not income related, including contribution based benefits, will not be affected by a student loan.

Migrant Workers

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many jobcentre plus vacancies were filled during 2002–03 by (a) skilled and (b) unskilled migrants.

Des Browne: The information requested is not available.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Data Protection

Christopher Chope: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs 
	(1)  if he will require the Information Commissioner to bring legal proceedings against individuals or organisations identified as purporting to be acting as a collector in relation to data protection but acting without the authority of the Information Commissioner;
	(2)  what action the Information Commissioner is taking to prevent organisations passing themselves off as the Data Protection Registrar; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: The Commissioner carries out his statutory duties independently of government. He has no powers under the Data Protection Act to take legal action against "collectors", but he has been working closely with the Office of Fair Trading, local trading standards services across the country and various police forces to tackle the problem. The coordinated efforts of these bodies have resulted in a number of successful legal actions and continuing investigations.
	The Commissioner has been able to take action in the case of one firm, which has been using his registered trademarks. The matter is currently in the hands of his lawyers.
	In addition to these measures, the Commissioner has strengthened his notification administrative procedures and his staff continue to work very hard to offer appropriate advice to the public and to help raise awareness of the activities of these "collectors".

Data Protection

Christopher Chope: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of (a) individuals and (b) organisations which have fallen victim to bogus collectors in relation to data protection in each of the last three years;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the income received by the Information Commissioner from data protection registration fees under the Data Protection Act 1998 which emanated from bogus agencies in each of the last two years;
	(3)  on how many occasions fees forwarded to the Information Commissioner by bogus collectors on behalf of data protection were from organisations which do not need to be registered; and what happens to such fees;
	(4)  if he will estimate the cost to the Information Commissioner of telephone calls, correspondence and administration arising from the activities of bogus organisations posing as collectors in relation to data protection.

David Lammy: I understand from the Information Commissioner that in total approximately 27,000 notifications have been received via these bogus agencies. There were some 2,500 in 2001–02; 12,000 in 2002–03; and 12,500 in 2003–04. The figures available do not distinguish between individuals and organisations.
	The income received amounted to £420,000 in 2002–03 and £437,500 in 2003–04.
	The Data Protection Act allows organisations whose processing is exempt from the notification requirement to notify voluntarily. From the documentation submitted through the bogus agencies, it is not possible for the Commissioner to assess whether a notification is mandatory or voluntary. Refunds are given where the registration is a duplicate or where organisations contact the Commissioner and qualify for an exemption. Figures for the total number of refunds made prior to August 2003 are not available. Since that date, there have been approximately 400.
	The Commissioner estimates that the costs to his office of the bogus agencies in the year 2003–04 have been in the region of £100,000.

Legal Aid

David Davis: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what legal aid entitlement is available to (a) UK citizens and (b) non-UK citizens when charged with (i) civil and (ii) criminal offences.

David Lammy: There are no nationality or residency requirements for using the courts in the United Kingdom. The availability of civil and criminal legal aid follows the same basic principle. Any individual, whether they are a UK citizen or not, may make an application for civil or criminal legal aid in any of the three jurisdictions within the United Kingdom (England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland). The applicant, however, must pass the relevant merits and means criteria for the civil or criminal schemes within the jurisdiction where the application is made, and, in addition, the legal proceedings for which legal aid is sought must have originated within that jurisdiction.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Housing

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his response is to the Country Landowners and Business Association report on affordable housing in rural areas.

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister welcomes the Association's report and the contribution it is making to the debate about the balance between the need for more affordable housing in many rural areas and protection of the countryside. The report's recommendations mainly relate to the planning system and will be taken into account in finalising the proposed changes to Planning Policy Guidance on Housing (PPG3) which were consulted on last summer.

Housing

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on affordable housing in rural areas.

Keith Hill: The Government are acutely aware of the difficulties caused in rural, and other, areas as a result of shortages of good quality affordable housing. A comprehensive programme of action to address this, and the problems associated with poor housing conditions and low demand and abandonment, was launched by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister in "Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future" on 5 February 2003. This specifically recognises the importance of balancing provision of additional housing in rural areas with protection of the countryside.
	The action to increase affordable housing focuses on improving the effectiveness of the planning system and the establishment of four growth areas to alleviate the overall housing pressures in London and surrounding areas. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has also increased the target for new affordable housing provided in settlements of less than 3,000 people.
	Kate Barker, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, is carrying out a review of issues underlying the lack of supply and responsiveness of housing in the UK. Her interim report published on 10 December set out the major analysis of these issues and the constraints that must be overcome to meet the housing need for this and future generations. The Government look forward to her final report, which is due later in the month.

Housing

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the level of affordable housing stock in the Vale of York was on (a) 1 January 1997 and (b) 1 January 2004.

Keith Hill: The available information in respect of housing provided by local authorities and registered social landlords is presented as follows for the districts surrounding and including the Vale of York constituency:
	
		Social Dwelling stock for surrounding districts of the Vale of York constituency, as at 1April
		
			  Local authority(52) RegisteredSocial Landlord(52) Total 
			  1997 2003 1997 2003 1997 2003 
		
		
			 Hambleton 0 0 4,648 4,601 4,648 4,601 
			 Harrogate 4,806 4,074 1,375 2,151 6,181 6,225 
			 York 9,497 8,406 3,064 3,819 12,561 12,225 
		
	
	(52) Figures for the number of dwellings in 1997 include self-contained units only, while figures for 2003 include bed spaces and self-contained units.
	Source:
	ODPM's Housing Investment Programme return and Housing Corporation's Regulatory Statistical Return.

Housing

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the percentage of affordable housing stock is in the Chorley constituency.

Keith Hill: The available information in respect of housing provided by local authorities and registered social landlords is presented as follows for the district of Chorley:
	
		Social dwelling stock for Chorley district as at 1April 2003
		
			  Number As percentage of total stock 
		
		
			 Local Authority 3,271 7.6 
			 Registered Social Landlord 3,011 7.0 
			 Total 6,282 14.6 
		
	
	Source:
	ODPM's Housing Investment Programme returns and Housing Corporation's Regulatory and Statistical Return.

Housing

John Cryer: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the average waiting time was in each of the last four years for a person to be rehoused in the London borough of Havering.

Keith Hill: Information provided by the London borough of Havering showing the average waiting time for rehousing a person in the borough for the last four years is as follows:
	
		
			  Average waiting time 
		
		
			 1999–2000 2 years 5 months 
			 2000–01 2 years 5 months 
			 2001–02 2 years 5 months 
			 2002–03 2 years 10 months

Housing

John Cryer: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the waiting list figures in the London borough of Havering for old age pensioner housing were in each of the last four years.

Keith Hill: The London borough of Havering have advised the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister that in 2001–02 the average waiting time for old age pensioner housing in the borough was one year and two months; in 2002–03 it was one year and four months. The boroughs' records for 1999–2000 and 2000–01 are held manually and could be collated only at disproportionate cost.

Housing

Ken Purchase: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to his answer of 12 February 2004, Official Report, columns 1650–51W, on housing stock transfer, what proportion of the (a) interest on and (b) capital of the £8 billion private investment he has planned will be repaid directly from public funds.

Keith Hill: The new landlord is responsible for servicing the interest and capital of any private finance taken out as part of the housing transfer. No assistance is given directly from public funds.

Housing

Ken Purchase: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to his answer of 12 February 2004, Official Report, columns 1650–51W, on housing stock transfer, what proportion of the extra £8 billion private investment has been invested in arm's length management organisation stock (a) directly and (b) indirectly.

Keith Hill: To date £12 billion of private funding is being used for the purchase and improvement of housing stock that has been transferred into the ownership of Registered Social Landlords. None of it is available for investment in stock owned by local authorities and managed by Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs). My answer of 12 February indicated that £900 million of public funding has so far been allocated for this latter purpose.

Housing

Ken Purchase: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to his answer of 12 February 2004, Official Report, columns 1650–51W, on housing stock transfer, what proportion of the nearly £900 million of public funding to bring homes up to the Decent Homes standard is additional to what would have been available had the housing stock remained under local authority management control.

Keith Hill: All of the £900 million so far allocated under the Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) programme is additional to the public funding available to all local authorities which own housing stock, irrespective of whether it is managed directly or by an ALMO.

Leasehold (Bogus Charges)

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what progress has been made towards the implementation of the provisions of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 that will protect leaseholders from bogus ground rent charges.

Keith Hill: The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 includes provisions that will make it mandatory for landlords to give leaseholders a notice specifying how much ground rent is required, when the rent is payable and what the consequences are of non-payment. The leaseholder will also be given a grace period for paying the ground rent, which will be not be less than 30 days or more than 60 days after the day of the notice.
	The measures will form part of the third Commencement Order which will deal with the outstanding accounting, insurance, forfeiture, ground rent and right to enfranchise provisions in the 2002 Act. The Order and associated regulations are expected to be laid in July this year, coming into force in most cases, three months later.

Liveability Fund

Parmjit Dhanda: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the sums available through the Liveability Fund.

Keith Hill: The Liveability Fund is providing £89 million over three years (2003–06) to assist local authorities in identifying new and innovative ways of delivering improved 'liveability' services.
	The fund will support 27 pilot areas to improve parks and public spaces with grants of between £2.1 million and £3.8 million.

Local Authority Procurement

Barbara Roche: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many local authorities now have a procurement champion in place; and how many local authorities have completed a procurement plan to ensure best practice as recommended in the Byatt Report.

Nick Raynsford: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The National Procurement Strategy for Local Government, launched in October 2003, includes milestones for 2004 for each authority to appoint a procurement champion and to develop a corporate procurement strategy, owned by chief executives, members and senior officers.
	On 25 February, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Local Government Association (LGA) announced nine Centres of Procurement Excellence to support authorities in implementing the National Procurement Strategy. The centres will collect information about the implementation of the Strategy in each region, including progress in appointing champions and developing corporate procurement strategies.

Millennium Dome

Bob Spink: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the (a) maintenance and (b) management costs for the Millennium Dome (i) up to the date when it passes to the private sector and (ii) for the next financial year.

Keith Hill: English Partnerships (EP) has budgeted in accordance with the contracts signed between EP, Meridian Delta Ltd. and Anschutz Entertainment Group in May 2002, to continue to pay core Dome management and maintenance costs until construction of the new arena starts. Similarly, while the arena is under construction, EP has budgeted for a reduced level of costs. Those costs will cease on practical completion of the arena. We are not in a position to give estimates of costs at this stage, as there are negotiations proceeding which are commercially confidential. However, once the transaction with Meridian Delta Ltd. and Anschutz Entertainment Group has gone unconditional, which is expected in June this year, I will update the House further and provide more information on the expected future level of costs.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has regularly updated the House on costs incurred by EP in relation to the Dome, including its management and maintenance. The average monthly cost for management and maintenance of the Dome from January 2003 to December 2003 was £221,000, including rates, utilities, security and EP staff costs.
	All costs incurred by EP since it took over responsibility for the Dome in July 2001 and including the costs of the sale process will be recovered from the sale proceeds.

Parliamentary Questions

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he will reply to the question from the hon. Member for Gordon, on Departmental Advertising, tabled on 22 January 2004, reference 149916.

Yvette Cooper: A reply was given to the hon. Member for Gordon on 2 March 2004, Official Report, column 820W.

Red Ash

Joan Walley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his Department's guidelines are for the removal of red ash from beneath residential properties; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: Removal of the red ash material is only required where unacceptable excessive movement has occurred to a dwelling's ground floor. It will result in considerable disruption and expense for the property owner. The Building Research Establishment (BRE) has undertaken research and produced guidance for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. This guide is the Special Digest 1, "Concrete in aggressive ground" which may be purchased from BRE, Watford. It deals with problems of aggressive fill beneath floor slabs.

Regional Assemblies

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the cost of securing the Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Act 2003 and enabling referendums in the three northern regions has been to date.

Nick Raynsford: It is not possible to disaggregate relevant staff and overhead costs.
	To date £4,000 has been incurred on the soundings exercise, and the three consultations on the arrangements for the referendums.
	Expenditure has also been incurred by the Electoral Commission, which receives resources from the Speakers Committee to cover its costs.
	On 17 June 2003, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister directed the Boundary Committee for England to conduct reviews of local government structure in the three Northern Regions. It is anticipated that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will provide £4.5 million to the Boundary Committee for England during 2003–04 for this work.

Standards Board for England

Anthony Steen: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what budget has been allocated for the running costs of the Standards Board for England in 2004–05; what its terms of reference are; how many and what percentage of complaints have been investigated since referral; and if he will make a statement on how the Board contributes to the functions of the Local Government Ombudsman.

Phil Hope: The current budget provisionally allocated for the Standards Board for England in 2004–05 is £8 million, subject to approval by Parliament to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's main estimates. The Board's principal roles, as provided for by Part III of the Local Government Act 2000, are to appoint ethical standards officers who investigate misconduct allegations against local government members, to decide whether allegations should be referred for investigation and to issue guidance to local authorities on matters relating to the conduct of members.
	Of the 5,188 allegations received by the Board up to November last year, the total referred for investigation was 1,955 (38 per cent. of the total allegations received). Of these, the total number of investigations completed was 1,014.
	The remit of the Standards Board is separate from that of the Commission for Local Administration in England, and the Board has no role with regard to the Commission's functions.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what requirements are placed on local authorities and the police to liaise on and co-ordinate (a) their response to and (b) regulation of anti-social behaviour orders.

Hazel Blears: Before applying for an anti-social behaviour order the police and local authority have a statutory duty to consult with each other. Where the applicant is a Registered Social Landlord, British Transport Police, a Housing Action Trust or a County Council, they must consult with both the local police and local authority. It is a matter of good practice that all agencies should be involved in monitoring the order once it has been granted.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many anti-social behaviour orders were granted in each local authority in each of the last two years in (a) England and (b) Wales.

Hazel Blears: The available information will be placed in the Library.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has carried out into the propensity of individuals who have been served with anti-social behaviour orders to re-offend.

Hazel Blears: Siobhan Campbell, in 'A Review of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders', Home Office Research Study 236, January 2002, found that just over one third of a sample of 20 individuals given ASBOs were known to have breached their order. Fewer (30 per cent.) had committed further offences during that time. In only four cases had the individual been taken to court for both breach and a further offence.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Anti-Social Behaviour Orders have been made in (a) Lancashire and (b) Chorley in each of the last three years.

Hazel Blears: Data on the number of notifications, reported to the Home Office, of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders issued in Lancashire and Chorley in the last three years are given in the table.
	
		The number of ASBOs issued in Lancashire and Chorley, as notified to the Home Office by all courts, from 1January 2001 to 30September 2003 (latest available)
		
			  Area 
			 Period Lancashire Of which: Chorley 
		
		
			 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001 7 2 
			 1 January 2002 to 30 November 2002(53) 11 — 
			 1 December 2002 to 30 September 2003 30 1 
			 Total issued 48 3 
		
	
	(53) Following introduction of the Police Reform Act (2002) data for December 2002 are included in the first quarter data for 2003.

CCTV (Chorley)

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the benefits of CCTV in Chorley.

Hazel Blears: Police operational experience and general research studies show that CCTV has considerable crime reduction and detection potential, particularly when used as part of a wider strategy.
	A detailed statistical evaluation of the impact of CCTV in Chorley is currently under way. The results of this should be available later this year.
	Crime levels for local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, including Chorley, have been collected and published for six types of crime: violence against the person, sexual offences, robbery, burglary dwelling, theft of motor vehicles and theft from motor vehicles.
	The latest figures are contained in Home Office Statistical Bulletin 07/03 "Recorded Crime England and Wales 2002/03".

Credit Card Fraud

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the quantity of credit card fraud on the internet in 2003;
	(2)  what measures he is undertaking to counter credit card fraud on the internet;
	(3)  what discussions he has had with the Association for Payment Clearing Services regarding credit card fraud on the internet;
	(4)  for what reason he has withdrawn funding from the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit;
	(5)  what assessment he has made of the amount of credit card fraud on the internet following the rolling out of chip and PIN across the United Kingdom;
	(6)  what his assessment is of the effect of internet credit card fraud on the (a) funding of terrorism and (b) proliferation of illegal drugs.

Hazel Blears: The Government do not routinely collect figures on the cost of credit card fraud, but the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) estimates the cost of internet fraud in 2002 (the most recent figures available) to be £28 million accounting for 7 per cent. of all card fraud losses.
	The measures taken by Home Office to counter this include a recently launched website to combat fraud over the internet. The 'e-tailing mini site' forms part of the Crime Reduction Website and provides information to help both consumers and businesses protect themselves when using the internet.
	The Home Office also participates in an APACS led Steering Group to tackle 'Card Not Present' (CNP) fraud. This includes fraud over the internet. We support practical measures being introduced by the industry to increase levels of security for internet transactions. These include Address Verification Services (AVS), Card Security Code (CSC), Mastercard Secure Code and Verified by Visa which are already making a significant impact on CNP Fraud. A manual ("Spot and Stop Card Fraud Retailer Pack") resulting from the CNP Steering Group's Work provides advice to merchants on the dangers of CNP fraud and the steps which can be taken to prevent it.
	The Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) was set up as a two-year pilot in April 2002. The future of the Unit is currently under consideration. A decision about the future of the unit when the pilot ends in April will be made shortly.
	It is not yet possible to make a realistic assessment of any likely increase in internet fraud following the introduction of Chip and PIN but the industry is taking measures, as outlined above, to minimise the risk.
	As with other types of crime some of the proceeds of internet credit card fraud may be used to finance other forms of criminal activity. The extent is not known.

Credit Card Fraud

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has collated regarding altered levels of ATM fraud where the chip and PIN credit card system is used exclusively.

Hazel Blears: I understand from the Association of Payment Clearing Services that the chip and PIN system is not used exclusively anywhere in the world. We cannot therefore draw on experience to say what may happen in terms of possible fraud migration to ATMs once Chip and PIN is fully implemented in the United Kingdom.
	The upgrading of cash machines to chip and PIN technology is more secure because the user needs both the genuine card and the PIN. This is a major improvement on the magnetic stripe and PIN system where a fraudster could have used the PIN with a counterfeit card.

Crime Statistics

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many arrests were made in the Romford area of the London borough of Havering during (a) 1995, (b) 1997, (c) 1999, (d) 2001 and (e) 2003.

Hazel Blears: Information on arrests collected centrally is based on persons arrested for 'notifiable' offences at police force area level only, in England and Wales. The information does not identify individual local authority areas.

Crime Statistics

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many criminal offences involving broken bottles or broken glasses were committed in (a) Wrexham, (b) Rhyl, (c) Prestatyn, (d) Mold, (e) Flint, (f) Deeside, (g) Shotton, (h) Abergele, (i) Denbigh, (j) Holyhead, (k) Amlwch, (l) Bangor, (m) Caernarfon, (n) Dolgellau, (o) Bala, (p) Machynlleth, (q) Colwyn Bay, (r) Llandudno, (s) Conwy, (t) Ruthin and (u) Llangollen, in each of the past 15 years, listed in descending order;
	(2)  how many criminal offences involving broken bottles or broken glasses were committed in each police authority area in England and Wales in the last year for which figures are available;
	(3)  how many crime and disorder incidents there were at, and between, each railway station in North Wales in each of the past 10 years, listed in descending order.

Hazel Blears: The requested information is not available centrally.

Crime Statistics

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) arrests were made, (b) people were charged, (c) cautions were issued and (d) convictions there were in the North West, broken down by (i) police force, (ii) constituency and (iii) local authority area in each year since 1997.

Hazel Blears: The available information, relating to persons arrested in the North West Region, by police force area, is contained in Table A. It is limited to arrests for notifiable offences and relates to the financial years, 1999–2000 to 2002–03.
	The number of persons cautioned, proceeded against at the magistrates courts (numbers of persons charged are not held centrally) and found guilty at all courts for all offences, in the North West Region, by police force area, 1997 to 2002 is contained in Table B.
	Statistics on cautions and court proceedings for 2003 will be published in the autumn.
	
		Table A. Persons arrested for notifiable offences recorded by the police, by police force area, North West Region, 1999–2000 to 2002–03
		
			 Police force area 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 
		
		
			 Cheshire 18,202 16,959 16,525 18,121 
			 Cumbria 15,568 13,226 14,106 13,584 
			 Greater Manchester 73,366 68,803 68,408 70,424 
			 Lancashire 37,535 36,998 41,715 40,241 
			 Merseyside 44,315 45,598 41,072 47,182 
			 North West Region 188,986 181,584 181,826 189,552 
		
	
	
		Table B. Number of persons cautioned, proceeded against at the magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for all offences, by police force area, North West Region 1997 to 2002(54)
		
			 Year/Police force area Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty 
		
		
			 1997
			 Cheshire 4,048 28,929 23,363 
			 Cumbria 2,901 20,882 16,991 
			 Greater Manchester 16,297 122,793 93,889 
			 Lancashire 9,333 70,472 49,219 
			 Merseyside 13,763 54,632 41,661 
			 Total 46,342 297,708 225,123 
			 
			 1998
			 Cheshire 4,587 30,342 24,642 
			 Cumbria 3,015 20,113 16,367 
			 Greater Manchester 19,716 132,912 102,403 
			 Lancashire 8,906 70,745 50,177 
			 Merseyside 14,205 55,424 42,070 
			 Total 50,429 309,536 235,659 
			 
			 1999
			 Cheshire 3,592 30,424 24,205 
			 Cumbria 3,031 19,640 15,799 
			 Greater Manchester 16,142 136,152 103,768 
			 Lancashire 7,355 64,839 46,540 
			 Merseyside 12,159 47,443 36,025 
			 Total 42,279 298,498 226,337 
			 
			 2000
			 Cheshire 3,111 33,545 26,898 
			 Cumbria 2,336 16,903 13,610 
			 Greater Manchester 12,389 145,894 111,841 
			 Lancashire 6,777 69,137 49,384 
			 Merseyside 8,216 55,047 40,197 
			 Total 32,829 320,526 241,930 
			 
			 2001
			 Cheshire 2,780 31 ,296 25,338 
			 Cumbria 2,505 14,515 11,519 
			 Greater Manchester 11,181 133,992 96,604 
			 Lancashire 7,189 67,546 47,807 
			 Merseyside 6,142 56,556 41,146 
			 Total 29,797 303,905 222,414 
			  
			 2002
			 Cheshire 2,084 35,196 28,369 
			 Cumbria 2,392 14,318 11,376 
			 Greater Manchester 9,774 133,654 97,063 
			 Lancashire 6,515 67,525 47,961 
			 Merseyside 6,331 56,713 43,928 
			 Total 27,096 307,406 228,697 
		
	
	(54) These data are on the principal offence basis.

Criminal Records Bureau

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what methods counter-signatories will be required to use (a) to obtain fingerprints from applicants and (b) to authenticate documents provided by applicants as set out in his consultation on new draft regulations for the Criminal Records Bureau.

Hazel Blears: The draft regulations, issued for consultation on 1 December 2003, would require Registered Bodies, or their agents, to authenticate the identity of a Disclosure applicant by examining a combination of official or other documents (for example passports, driving licences and utility bills) which will help confirm the applicant's name, date of birth and current address. Counter signatories, or those carrying out identity checking on their behalf, should be alert for signs of tampering. The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) has issued guidelines which identify suspicious signs to be on the lookout for when examining the documents commonly presented by applicants.
	The draft regulations would not require counter signatories to obtain fingerprints from applicants. We have separately consulted on the Independent Review Team's proposal that applicants for the most sensitive positions should be required to submit their fingerprints with their Disclosure application. We are currently analysing over 2,000 responses to this consultation.

Criminal Records Bureau

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the Criminal Records Bureau (a) check and (b) authenticate with the issuing bodies identity documents submitted with applications.

Hazel Blears: Since the inception of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) Registered Bodies have checked the identity of applicants for Disclosures. Being closer to direct contact with applicants than the CRB they are best placed to do so. We have proposed, in the consultation paper we issued in December, that Registered Bodies be made explicitly responsible for validating the identity of those for whom they seek Disclosures. The CRB has issued guidance to Registered Bodies to help them identify common official documents that may have been forged or tampered with.
	The CRB continues to check that Registered Bodies, or their agents, have undertaken the necessary checks to verify the identity of applicants. Where evidence of such checks is not recorded on the Disclosure application form they are rejected by the Bureau. In addition, as part of the proposed periodic audit of Registered Bodies, CRB staff will be checking to see that Registered Bodies properly discharge their responsibilities in this area. Furthermore, as part of their anti-fraud measures the CRB checks a sample of applications against lists maintained by the UK Passport Services and DVLA of fraudulently obtained passports and driving licences.

Domestic Violence

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many domestic violence incidents were reported in the last 12 months, broken down by (a) police authority area, (b) local authority area and (c) basic command unit; and how many and what percentage of these incidents resulted in prosecution.

Hazel Blears: Domestic violence is not separately identified in the recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office nor in the statistics of court proceedings, because the circumstances of the offences are not collected. While the number of incidents of domestic violence in England and Wales are measured by the British Crime Survey (BCS), figures are not available by police force area or at more local levels.
	In the 2002–03 BCS there were an estimated 501,000 incidents of domestic violence in England and Wales as a whole, 35 per cent. of which were reported to the police. This is from the main face-to-face part of the survey and shows a decrease of 38 per cent. since 1997.

Football Supporters

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether legislation to prevent football supporters from leaving the UK to attend matches abroad applies to (a) players and (b) officials.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 1 March 2004
	The provisions of the Football Spectators Act 1989 (as amended by the Football (Disorder Act 2000) apply to all residents of England and Wales. No senior player or official is currently subject to a football banning order.

Gun Crime

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the performance of Government-funded community groups working to combat gun crime.

Caroline Flint: The Government are, in this financial year, providing £1.5 million specifically to support community action to help tackle gun crime. This is in addition to other funding, including through the Street Crime Initiative, to support community-based programmes that will help to tackle gun crime.
	This work is on-going, but we will take stock, at an appropriate time, of the outcomes of the projects supported in order to inform future community-based action in this area. We will be developing a dedicated website to support those working to tackle gun crime, where we can provide information about existing programmes and spread examples of good practice.

Katharine Gun

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had in the last 12 months with the (a) Secretary of State for Defence, (b) Department for Constitutional Affairs, (c) Prime Minister and (d) Attorney General over the Katharine Gun case.

David Blunkett: I had no discussions with the Secretary of State for Defence, or the Department for Constitutional Affairs, or the Prime Minister on this matter.
	I had no discussions with the Attorney-General. However, I was copied in on the "Shawcross Exercise", the process of which the Solicitor-General has already outlined to the House on 26 February 2004, Official Report, column 428.

National Asylum Support Service

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will publish the full independent review into the National Asylum Support Service; and for what reason it has not yet been published.

Beverley Hughes: Because of the level of public interest in the review and the recommendation from the Home Affairs Committee Ministers are currently considering the matter.

Offender Assessments

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders have undergone an OASys assessment in the last 12 months; and what the average cost per assessment was.

Paul Goggins: On 9 January 2004, the latest date for which figures from both services are available, the Prison Service OASys IT system held assessments on some 1,400 offenders while the National Probation Service OASys IT system held assessments on some 63,800 offenders. Figures are not held centrally on use of the paper-based OASys system that pre-dated the computerised system in the National Probation Service.
	Reliable unit costs are not yet available. The Prison Service and National Probation Service expect to have figures towards the end of this year when implementation of OASys IT in the two Services is further advanced.

Parliamentary Questions

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reply to the oral Question of the hon. Member for the Vale of York (ref 155764), not reached on 23 February, on the number of acceptable behaviour contracts issued.

Hazel Blears: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 23 February 2004, Official Report, column 222W.

Police

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police were allocated to front line duties in Hampshire in each year since 1997.

Hazel Blears: Information on front line policing is not available. We are, as part of the Police Performance Assessment Framework, collecting data from forces so that we can publish a baseline estimate of front line policing for all forces. This will be a valuable tool to drive up the amount of time spent on front line duties.
	Published data are in the form of total police strength by police force area.
	
		Number of police officers(55) in Hampshire, 1997–2003
		
			 As at 31 March Police officers(56) 
		
		
			  
			  
			 1997 3,452 
			 1998 3,490 
			 1999 3,473 
			 2000 3,419 
			 2001 3,438 
			 2002 3,480 
			 2003 (57)3,668  
		
	
	(55) Full time equivalents.
	(56) Excludes officers seconded to NCS, NCIS and Central Services.
	(57) Comparable strength.

Police

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the police retirement age is; what plans he has to increase this; what estimate he has made of the cost savings that would accrue if the retirement age was lifted to 65; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: There is no fixed retirement age for the police. Under the Police Pensions Regulations officers with at least 25 years' service may retire with an immediate pension from age 50. Officers may also retire with an immediate pension, irrespective of age, after 30 years' service, when they will have accrued maximum benefits. This means that an officer who joined at age 18½—the earliest age at which it is possible to start as a police officer—is entitled to retire at age 48½ a with a full pension. Otherwise officers become eligible to retire with an immediate pension on reaching their compulsory retirement age, which ranges from 55 to 60 depending on the rank and force of the officer concerned. Officers with less than 25 years' service who leave the police with deferred benefits will receive their pension at age 60.
	The Government are currently considering options for the modernisation of police pensions to make them more flexible and affordable for future entrants. We have launched a UK-wide consultation exercise on proposals for a new police pension scheme, to be introduced by April 2006. One of the key features of our proposals is the introduction of a minimum pension age of 55 for new entrants and the raising of the deferred pension age from 60 to 65 in line with the proposed rise in the normal pension age in other public service schemes.
	Information is not available on the level of savings that would be involved if the police retirement age were to be raised to 65 for all officers. If such a calculation were carried out it is arguable that the cost implications for operational effectiveness should also be taken into account. The Department of Work and Pensions Green Paper of December 2002, in proposing a normal public service pension age of 65, recognised that services like the police and the armed forces had specific needs which made a lower pension age appropriate for their members.

Police Funding

David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will meet inflationary costs in employment costs, pensions, and supplies and services as part of the 2004–05 funding settlement for police authorities.

Hazel Blears: All police authorities in England and Wales will receive a 3.25 per cent. increase in general grants, above the police pay award increase of 3 per cent. and general inflation projections of 2.6 per cent.
	Prospective police pensions' costs are taken into account when overall grant provision is determined.

Police Funding

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for how long (a) community support officers and (b) rural policy officers will be funded centrally; and who will pay for the officers when central funding lapses.

Hazel Blears: All Home Office Community Support Officer (CSO) funding continues until March 2006. The potential for central funding of CSOs after March 2006 is being considered as part of the Spending Review 2004, although 21 police forces are currently employing 964 CSOs whose costs have not been funded by the Home Office.
	The Rural Policing Fund is reviewed annually and there are no plans to abolish it. I am satisfied that the fund meets a genuine need to improve the policing of the most sparsely populated areas in England and Wales.

Police Funding

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much of the cost of policing Havering is paid for by (a) central Government and (b) the local council; and what the total cost is in 2003–04.

Hazel Blears: The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) set a final budget of £2.2 billion in 2003–04. £443 million was raised through the police precept on council tax and £1764 million from general grants. The internal distribution of resources is a matter for the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and the MPA.
	I understand that Havering's police budget for 2003–04 is £17.3 million. In addition to this, Havering benefits from services provided by specialist crime and operations directorates as well as support from other pan-London operational units.

Police/Prison Officers

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what surveys his Department has conducted into the views of (a) police officers and (b) prison officers in the last two years.

Hazel Blears: The information is as follows: (a) Police Officers
	The Home Office has conducted the following formal surveys of police officers views over the last two years:
	1. Qualitative research to inform police service communications—June 2003
	2. Survey on reasons for leaving the Police Service—2002
	3. Two surveys on police leadership issues—late 2002/early 2003
	4. Attitudes and perceptions relating to the impact of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry on the police—commenced 2002 and work ongoing
	5. Views and experiences of recording police stops—commenced 2003 and work ongoing
	6. Police effectiveness in handling racist incidents—commenced in 2002 and work ongoing
	7. A monitoring and evaluation project into community and race relations training—commenced late 2002 and work ongoing
	8. Quality assurance research into community and race relations training—commenced late 2002 and work ongoing
	9. Review of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984–2002
	10. Evaluation of the new Police Misconduct Procedures—published 2003.
	The Home Office is, of course, continually in dialogue with police officers at all levels, seeking their views and options on a wide range of policing issues in a less formal context.
	(b) Prison Officers
	A National Staff Attitude Survey has been administered in-house to Prison Service staff annually between 2000–2003.
	1. June 2002—Survey of Prison Service staff attitudes representing 36 per cent. of staff in post.
	2. November 2003—Full-census staff attitude survey of all Prison Service staff.
	Copies of reports between 2000–2002 are available in the Library. The final report for 2003 will be available in the late spring/early summer 2004.

Police Vehicles (Accidents)

Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been (a) killed and (b) injured in road traffic accidents involving police vehicles in each of the past five years.

Caroline Flint: The number of police and civilian fatalities and injuries arising from police responses to immediate/emergency calls and pursuits will be placed in the Library.

Northern Ireland (On-the-run Terrorists)

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many on the run terrorists have been apprehended and released back into the community in the last five years.

Paul Murphy: I have been asked to reply.
	25 people, who had left Northern Ireland without completing their sentences, have been informed that they can return to Northern Ireland without serving more time in custody. The Government's proposals for dealing with on-the-run terrorists were set out in the paper published on 1 May 2003 alongside the Joint Declaration. These proposals would only be taken forward within the context of acts of completion.

Vandalism (Buses)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been prosecuted for vandalism on buses in London in the last two years; in how many cases on board CCTV footage was used in the prosecution; and how many convictions resulted.

Hazel Blears: It is not possible to distinguish offences of vandalism on London buses from other types of criminal damage in the Home Office figures for court proceedings, as the circumstances of individual offences are not collected centrally.

HEALTH

Health Service Reforms

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding has been allocated to support the national roll-out of "Agenda for Change"; and how this funding has been allocated.

John Hutton: Additional funding worth 0.8 per cent. of main allocations has been allocated to primary care trusts (PCTs) in 2004–05 and a further 0.8 per cent. in 2005–06 to cover the costs of implementing "Agenda for Change" in acute and specialist hospital trusts, mental health trusts, ambulance trusts and PCTs themselves. Funding for implementation costs in strategic health authorities is currently being assessed but has not yet been allocated.
	Additional funding equivalent to 0.1 per cent. of total PCT allocations in 2004–05 and a further 0.1 per cent. in 2005–06 has been allocated to PCTs in areas in and around London to meet the cost of the new high cost area supplements.

Foundation Hospitals

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the cost of administration of the foundation hospital governance system.

John Hutton: The cost of administration of the governance system for each National Health Service foundation trust will depend on a number of factors, including the size of the membership. Experience of other membership organisations suggests that the cost of establishing and maintaining a membership base of 5,000 people is likely to be around £2.25 per member per annum. For NHS foundation trusts, these costs will not be entirely additional as they will replicate some current activity that trusts are already doing around informing the public, patients and staff about issues affecting each trust.

Consultant Contract

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects that the consultant's contract will be implemented.

John Hutton: Following the agreement reached last year with the British Medical Association and the NHS Confederation, National Health Service trusts and other employing organisations were asked to use the new NHS consultants' contract for all new appointments advertised after 31 October 2003 and give all existing consultants the opportunity to indicate by 31 October 2003 whether they wished to give a commitment to the new contract.
	We expect that the great majority of consultants who have given a commitment to the new contract will have agreed job plans by 31 March 2004. Where, exceptionally, there are any consultants whose job plans have taken longer to complete than other consultants, NHS trusts and other employing organisations have been asked to agree arrangements with their strategic health authority to complete the process as early as possible in the new financial year.

Dentistry

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of people used the internet to access information on NHS dentists in their area in (a) England and (b) Adur, Arun and Worthing in the last year for which figures are available.

Rosie Winterton: The Department does not collect information about the number of people who use the internet to access information on national health service dentists.

Dentistry

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patient treatments were undertaken by dentists (a) in England, (b) in each NHS region and (c) in each strategic health authority area in each year since 1997.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 27 February 2004
	The information available for the number of courses of treatment carried out by the General Dental Service (CDS) by national health service region and strategic health authority in england for the years ending March 1998 to 2003, has been placed in the Library.
	A course of treatment may involve one or more visits to the dentist. A patient may have several courses in a single year.
	Courses of treatment for children exclude courses where a payment claim is not required, which are mainly courses where only an examination takes place.

Domiciliary Care Agencies

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which conditions have been relaxed for domiciliary care agencies registered with conditions by the National Care Standards Commission; and for what length of time they have been relaxed.

Stephen Ladyman: Domiciliary care agencies must comply with the Domiciliary Care Agencies Regulations 2002 in order to be registered by the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC). These requirements have not been relaxed. Conditions are set by the NCSC at the point of registration after an assessment has been made of the fitness of the service against regulations and taking into account National Minimum Standards.
	The NCSC published guidance on 12 December 2003, setting out circumstances in which conditions could be attached to registration.

Drug-related Deaths

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in meeting the target of reducing the number of drug-related deaths since 1999.

Melanie Johnson: The number of drug related deaths since 1999 is shown in the table.
	
		
			  England and Wales England only 
		
		
			 1999 1,571 1,484 
			 2000 1,666 1,565 
			 2001 1,628 1,528 
			 2002 1,565 1,456 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Since the publication of drug related deaths in 2001 in February 2003, additional substances have become controlled. Earlier years' data have been updated to reflect these drugs. This means that the new data are comparable across the time period, despite the fact that some of the drugs were not controlled in the earlier years.
	2. The 2002 figures, published by the Office for National Statistics on 26 February 2004, show a fall in the number of drug related deaths for the second consecutive year and the figure is now below the 1999 baseline.
	Source:
	Office for National Statistics.

Equine Slaughter

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many slaughterhouses are licensed for the slaughter of equines.

Melanie Johnson: I have been advised by the Food Standards Agency that in the United Kingdom twelve slaughterhouses are licensed to slaughter equines; 11 in England and one in Northern Ireland.

Medical Training(EU Accession States)

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of whether medical training in the accession states conforms to the minimum EU requirements.

John Hutton: All accession states are committed to ensuring that the qualifications they award to doctors who began their training on or after the date of accession meet specified minimum European Community requirements. Their holders can then benefit from automatic recognition throughout the EC. Practitioners from these states who are already qualified or are currently in training must show that they either meet these requirements in full or have recent and substantial practice experience.

Medical Training(EU Accession States)

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate has been made of the number of (a) nurses and (b) midwives from accession countries who will seek to work in the United Kingdom following accession.

John Hutton: holding answer 27 February 2004
	No estimate has been made.
	The Nursing and Midwifery Council will, in due course, will have statistics about the numbers of nurses and midwives from accession countries who join its register.

Medical Training(EU Accession States)

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether (a) nurses and (b) midwives from EU accession countries would currently be able to work in the United Kingdom using qualifications from their home country if they were given permission to seek work in the UK.

John Hutton: holding answer 27 February 2004
	Relevantly qualified practitioners from the accession states will be able to work in the United Kingdom after accession.
	All nationals from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia who find work in the United Kingdom will be required to register with the Home Office under the new Worker Registration Scheme as soon as they find work.

Flu Vaccine

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the take-up rates for influenza vaccine were at 1 January (a) in England and (b) broken down by (i) primary care trust and (ii) strategic health authority.

Melanie Johnson: Information on the uptake rates for flu vaccine in those aged 65 and over for 2003–04 by primary care trust and strategic health authority has been placed in the Library.

Flu Vaccine

Phyllis Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will change the guidelines on free influenza vaccinations to include carers.

Melanie Johnson: Policy for those receiving free flu vaccination is currently under review. Carers are one of the groups under consideration.

Food Supplements Directive

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  for what reasons his Department opposed the application to the High Court in London brought by the Health Food Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Health Stores and Consumers for Health Choice for leave to appeal to the European Court of Justice against the provisions of the Food Supplements Directive; upon what date the case was heard; what the outcome of the case was; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will make funds available to the Health Food Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Health Stores, and Consumers for Health Choice to enable them to proceed to the European Court of Justice with their case relating to the Food Supplements Directive;
	(3)  on what date in 2003 the Minister for Public Health met industry representatives to discuss their concerns about the Food Supplements Directive; on what date the Minister subsequently approached the office of Commissioner Byrne to seek a meeting to discuss those issues; on what dates the approach was subsequently pursued; and if he will make a statement on the reasons for the failure so far to arrange such a meeting.
	(4)  when the Minister for Public Health next expects to meet representatives of the Health Food Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Health Stores, and Consumers for Health Choice to discuss their concerns about the Food Supplements Directive; and what progress the Minister will report at that meeting;
	(5)  what information he has received about the timing of the case being taken to the European Court of Justice in relation to the Food Supplements Regulations; what assistance he intends to give the Health Food Manufacturers Association and the National Association of Health Stores in preparing that case; and if he will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: The National Association of Health Stores (NAHS) and The Health Food Manufacturers' Association (HFMA) have challenged The Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003 and The Food Supplements (Wales) Regulations 2003 on grounds that the underlying Directive is in part invalid because of incompatibility with Community law. They sought a reference to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) regarding the validity of the relevant parts of the Directive and then the quashing of the relevant part of the England and Wales Regulations.
	At a hearing on 30 January 2004 the judge gave permission for judicial review of the Regulations and ordered that there be a reference to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling in respect of the validity of the Directive. Formal reference to the ECJ is likely to take place around the end of February. I understand that the ECJ takes approximately 24 months to give a preliminary ruling; however the national court will request expedition by the ECJ.
	Article 10 of the European Community Treaty imposes a duty on member states to take all appropriate measures to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of the Treaty or resulting from action taken by institutions of the Community. The Government had a responsibility to ensure that the full arguments concerning the validity of the Directive were put before the court, so that it could see the reasoning on both sides before deciding whether to grant permission for the case to proceed and whether to order that a reference be made to the ECJ.
	The Government have no plans to make funds available to the claimants. At the appropriate point the United Kingdom like other member states will decide on what if any observations it will make to the ECJ.
	I met with industry representatives to discuss their concerns about the Food Supplements Directive on 7 October 2003.
	Since then I have been seeking to arrange a discussion about the setting of EC maximum permitted levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements with Commissioner Byrne at the earliest practical opportunity. As to the timing of this meeting, it should be noted that we do not expect the Commission's proposal on maximum levels for another two to three years and there are currently no formal EC discussions on maximum levels under way.
	I have no current plans to meet representatives of the Health Food Manufacturer's Association, the NAHS and Consumers for Health Choice again. However, I will consider a further meeting when I have discussed maximum levels with Commissioner Byrne and the industry has experience of submitting safety dossiers to the European Food Safety Authority so that discussions can also cover how that process is working.

School Fruit Scheme

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which schools in the Chorley constituency benefit from the free fruit scheme.

Melanie Johnson: The following 50 schools in the Chorley District of Lancashire local education authority receive fruit under the National School Fruit Scheme:
	Chorley All Saints Church of England Primary School and Nursery Unit
	Duke Street Primary School
	Highfield Primary School
	Chorley, the Parish of St. Laurence Church of England Primary School
	Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, Chorley
	St. George's Church of England Primary School, Chorley
	Chorley St. James' Church of England Primary School
	St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Chorley
	Gillibrand Primary School
	Chorley St. Mary's Catholic Primary
	Chorley St. Peter's Church of England Primary School
	St. Gregory's Catholic Primary School, Chorley
	Buckshaw Primary School
	Rivington Voluntary Aided Primary School
	Adlington St. Paul's Church of England Primary School
	Adlington Primary School
	St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Brinscall
	Lancaster Lane Community Primary School
	Clayton-le-Woods Manor Road Primary School
	Clayton-le-Woods Westwood Primary School
	Anderton St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School
	Bretherton Endowed Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School
	Brindle St. James' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School
	Brindle Gregson Lane Primary School
	St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Brindle
	Christ Church Charnock Richard Church of England Primary School
	St. Bede's Roman Catholic Primary School, Clayton Green
	Clayton-le-Woods Church of England Primary School
	Coppull Parish Church of England Primary School
	Coppull St. John's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School
	St. Oswald's Catholic Primary School, Coppull
	Coppull Primary School
	Croston Trinity & St. Michael's Church of England Methodist Primary School
	Eccleston St. Mary's Church of England Primary School
	Euxton Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School
	Euxton St. Mary's Catholic Primary School
	Euxton Primrose Hill Primary School
	Heskin Pemberton's Church of England Primary School
	Mawdesley St. Peter's Church of England Primary School
	SS Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School, Mawdesley
	Balshaw Lane Community Primary School
	Eccleston Primary School
	Clayton Brook Primary School
	St. Chad's Catholic Primary School
	Whittle-le-Woods Church of England Primary School
	Brinscall St. John's Church of England and Methodist Primary School
	Abbey Village Primary School
	Withnell Fold Primary School
	Chorley Astley Park
	Mayfield School

Breast Cancer

Patsy Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the NHS will offer genetic testing of the complete BRCA2 gene instead of the current test.

Melanie Johnson: The National Institute for Clinical Excellence is preparing guidance for the national health service in England and Wales on the identification and management of genetic risk of familial breast cancer, with which the BRCA 2 gene is associated. This is due to be published shortly and is expected to include guidance on when it is appropriate to refer individuals for genetic testing, and the type of test which should be offered.

Hepatitis C

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new cases of hepatitis C have been diagnosed among drug users in (a) London and (b) England in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: Laboratory reports of antibody to hepatitis C in London and England from 1999 to 2003, where injecting drug use is given as a risk factor, are shown in the table. The majority of cases of acute hepatitis C infection do not result in symptoms and therefore new infections are not usually identified. These laboratory reports do not distinguish between new and previous infections.
	
		Laboratory reports of hepatitis C infection in London and England 1999–2003, where injecting drug use is given as a risk factor
		
			  1999 2000 2001 2002 2003(58) 
		
		
			 London 338 283 399 366 377 
			 England 5,297 4,893 4,665 5,547 6,129 
		
	
	(58) Provisional data.
	Source
	Health Protection Agency.

HIV/AIDS

Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new HIV positive cases were recorded in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; how many deaths from HIV/AIDS there were in each year; how many HIV positive cases have been reported in total; and if he will make an assessment of likely future trends of the disease.

Melanie Johnson: The numbers of new diagnoses of HIV infection and deaths in HIV-infected individuals, with or without reported AIDS, recorded in England in each of the last 10 years are shown in the table. By the end of December 2003, a total of 56,286 individuals had been reported as diagnosed with HIV infection in England since the start of the epidemic.
	The latest estimates for future trends in numbers of diagnosed individuals living with HIV were published by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) at the end of 2002. They are available on the HPA website at http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics az/hiv and sti/publications/hiv annual 2002.pdf.
	
		
			 Year(59) Newly diagnosed HIV infections Deaths 
		
		
			 1993 2,404 1,422 
			 1994 2,362 1,527 
			 1995 2,449 1,528 
			 1996 2,477 1,308 
			 1997 2,512 652 
			 1998 2,618 446 
			 1999 2,878 417 
			 2000 3,618 424 
			 2001 4,716 422 
			 2002 5,531 336 
		
	
	(59)Note:
	Numbers for recent years will rise as delayed reports are received.
	Source:
	Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, Health Protection Agency (data to the end of December 2003).

Hospital Regulators

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) organisations and (b) regulators are entitled to (i) inspect and (ii) regulate NHS hospital trusts in England.

John Hutton: Using the definition in The Better Regulation Task Force's report, "Independent Regulators", there are 31 bodies with the right to inspect or regulate national health service hospital trusts in England. However, 18 of these are regulators of the professions, or professional bodies, whose inspection roles apply only to training which a hospital might provide.
	From 1 April 2004, the Commission for Health Improvement, the Social Services Inspectorate and the National Care Standards Commission will cease to exist. At the same time, three new bodies will be introduced: the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection, the Commission for Social Care Inspection and the Foundation Trusts Regulator, but in most cases they will replace or rationalise a number of the functions of existing bodies.

Long-term Care

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what target he has set for intensive home care as a percentage of intensive home and residential care.

Stephen Ladyman: The Department's Public Service Agreement includes a target to increase the number of those supported to live intensively at home to 30 per cent. of all those being supported at home or in residential care by March 2006. The percentage has risen by nearly two points, from 27.2 per cent. in 2001–02 to 29 per cent. in 2002–03.

Long-term Care

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2004, Official Report, column 559W, on long-term care, how the estimates for (a) income from user charges for personal care at home, (b) savings of disability benefits and (c) publicly funded residents with incomes high enough to meet some care costs were derived.

Stephen Ladyman: In 2001–02, councils received around £320 million in income from user charges for domiciliary services. This information can be found on the Department's website. This is assumed to rise to around £350 million in 2003–04.
	Savings from disability benefits were estimated in the manner described in the reply of 25 February 2004, Official Report, columns 466–67W.
	The costs in respect of publicly funded residents with incomes high enough to meet care costs are an estimate, in the absence of data. A comparison of local authority data on the numbers of older supported residents in independent sector care homes and Department for Work and Pensions data on the numbers of older recipients of the residential allowance suggests that around 20 per cent. of older supported residents did not receive the residential allowance. This suggests that around 20 per cent. of supported residents have incomes above £168 per week, which is both the cut-off for receipt of residential allowance by older residents and the assumed level of hotel costs. This would amount to some 57,000 supported residents. If the average income of this subgroup—for which data are not available—was around £200 per week, the annual cost of free personal care for this group would be around £100 million.

Long-term Care

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2004, Official Report, column 559W, on long-term care, whether there would be offsetting savings to the Department for Work and Pensions' expenditure on disability benefits for older people receiving care at home, if the personal care were to be provided free.

Stephen Ladyman: Free personal care would not result in any savings to the Department for Work and Pensions' expenditure on disability benefits for older people receiving care at home. This is because receipt of local authority funded home care, unlike receipt of local authority supported residential care, does not trigger loss of disability benefits.

Long-term Care

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people over 75 were admitted to long-term care following a fall in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: Information on the number of people over 75 admitted to long-term care following a fall is not centrally available.

Waiting Lists/Times

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how long on average patients suffering from Lupus (SLE) waited to obtain a hospital out-patient appointment following referral to a specialist unit by their general practitioner in (a) London and (b) England in the last period for which figures are available.

Stephen Ladyman: Data on waiting times for lupus patients are not collected centrally.

Lymphoedema

Marion Roe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines are in place to ensure that non-cancer related lymphoedema patients receive appropriate compression garments as part of their treatment for the condition.

Stephen Ladyman: holding answer 2 March 2004
	We have issued no specific guidance to hospital trusts and primary care trusts for the provision of compression garments to non-cancer related lymphoedema patients. Decisions on what treatments to offer to patients with lymphoedema are a matter for the clinicians in charge of their care.

Medical Staff (Terms and Conditions)

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will investigate conformity with (a) his advice Amendments to the terms and conditions of service for hospital medical and dental practitioners and (b) his Advance Letter, AL MD 1/01 paragraph 22, m & n, published by the Department of Health in 2001. [R]

John Hutton: The implementation of the terms and conditions of service is the responsibility of national health service employing organisations.
	Monitoring of NHS employers' activities at this level of detail is not carried out centrally.

Mental Health Services

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of the assertive outreach teams are operational 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

Rosie Winterton: As set out in the Mental Health Policy Implementation Guide (2001), assertive outreach teams do not need to be operational 24 hours per day, seven days per week, but provide evening and weekend cover.
	According to the Durham adult mental health services mapping database, approximately 29 per cent. of assertive outreach teams provide access to a 24 hours per day, seven days per week on-call service. A further 41 per cent. provide evening and weekend cover.
	This means that 30 per cent. of assertive outreach teams in operation do not fully comply with the service specification set out in the Mental Health Policy Implementation Guide as yet. We expect full compliance with NHS Plan targets for new teams and services by December 2004.

Mental Health Services

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to increase the number of beds for mental health trusts.

Rosie Winterton: The Government set out priorities for local services for the reform and modernisation of mental health services in the "NHS Plan and the Priorities and Planning Framework 2003–06", supported by over £300 million extra investment announced in the NHS Plan.
	In line with the "NHS Plan" and the "Priorities and Planning Framework 2003–06", 500 secure beds and 320 24-hour staffed beds have been created. A further 200 long-term secure beds and 140 secure personality disorder places will be in place by the end of the year.
	The Government expect that the establishment of new teams and services, including a wider range of residential and secure provision for people with severe mental ill health, designed to ensure care and treatment tailored to individual needs, will ease pressure on the existing psychiatric beds provided by mental health trusts.

Ministerial Speeches

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many speeches he made between 9 June 2003 and 1 February 2004; and where a copy of each speech can be obtained.

Rosie Winterton: The information is as follows:
	Between Monday 9 June 2003 and Sunday 1 February 2004:
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health delivered 12 speeches.
	My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Health (Mr. Hutton) delivered nine speeches.
	My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Health (Miss Johnson) delivered 19 speeches.
	My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Health (Dr. Ladyman) delivered 27 speeches.
	My noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Health (Lord Warner) delivered seven speeches.
	I have delivered 19 speeches.
	These speeches were made outside of Parliament, in connection with official duties and copies of the speeches can be obtained from the Department of Health website at www.dh.gov.uk

Nursing

John Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many additional nurses have been employed in the Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals Trust since (a) 1997 and (b) 2001.

John Hutton: Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals National Health Service Trust was established in 2001. Figures for qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff are shown in the table.
	
		NHS hospital and community health services: Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff in the Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust as at 30September each specified year
		
			  Headcount and Percentage headcount 
		
		
			 2001 1,761 
			 2002 1,814 
			 Increase 53 
			 Percentage increase 3.0 
		
	
	Source:
	Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census.

Nursing

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures the Government are taking to ensure that the NHS does not employ nurses and other medical staff from developing countries with whom they do not have a bilateral agreement or memorandum of understanding.

John Hutton: All national health service employers involved in international recruitment are strongly commended to adhere to the code of practice published by the Department in 2001. One of the guiding principles of this code is that developing countries should not be targeted for recruitment. We have issued a list of developing countries that the NHS should not actively recruit from. A copy of this code is available at: www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/HumanResourcesAndTraining/MoreStaff/fs/en.
	We publish a list of recruitment agencies who have agreed to comply with the code. NHS bodies are strongly commended to use recruitment agencies on that list. We monitor compliance to the code of practice through information supplied by strategic health authorities.

Nursing

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nursing students qualified but did not join the Nursing Register in each year since 1996.

John Hutton: This information is not collected centrally but can be obtained from the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which is an independent statutory body.

Pharmacies (Security)

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what measures he has taken in the context of the NHS contract with pharmacists to support security measures on their premises;
	(2)  how many pharmacists on contract to the NHS were victims of crime on their premises in 2003.

Rosie Winterton: The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain's code of ethics and standards requires pharmacy premises to be safe for the public and staff working there. Currently, pharmacists can contact their local pharmaceutical committee, primary care trust or police to find out what additional support and advice is available locally on security measures that they can employ.
	The Counter Fraud and Security Management Service (CFSMS) was launched in April 2003 with a remit encompassing policy and operational responsibility for the management of security in the national health service. The remit can be defined as protecting people and property so that the highest standards of clinical care can be achieved. This includes tackling violence against staff and professionals working in the NHS.
	From April 2004, all health bodies will be required to nominate a suitable person to perform the role of local security management specialists (LSMS). These LSMS will be trained by the CFSMS, so that they can take the lead for security management work within the NHS, including primary care.
	While security has not been raised in recent contractual discussions, the CFSMS will shortly be meeting the pharmaceutical services negotiating committee to discuss what support on security management the CFSMS and the LSMS can give to community pharmacies.
	Information on the number of community pharmacists owning, or employed by companies, with NHS contracts who were victims of crime on their premises is not collected or held centrally.

Retirement Age

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to raise the normal retirement age for NHS staff; what estimate he has made of the cost savings from raising the pension age to 65; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: There is no nationally determined retirement age for nurses and other non medical staff.
	Hospital, public health and community doctors employed under the existing terms and conditions of service are required to retire at age 65, although there is provision for an employing authority to extend employment in a locum capacity beyond 65. Consultants are free to transfer to the 2003 consultant contract under which there is no age restriction to practice.
	There is no age restriction on doctors in the personal medical services (PMS). The requirement that existing general medical services doctors cannot act as principals after age 70 is removed from 1 April 2004. Fitness to practice will be assessed by rigorous and objective tests which will replace the existing arbitrary age limit.
	The national health service pension scheme is currently subject to review. It is too early to provide an estimate of the cost implications of any changes that may be considered as a part of that review.

Rural Health Care

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on progress made towards primary care targets set out in the Rural White Paper.

John Hutton: Progress made towards the primary care commitments set out in the Rural White Paper was included in the Rural White Paper Review, published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on Wednesday 14 January 2004.

Schizophrenia

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the financial cost of schizophrenia to the NHS in 2003.

Rosie Winterton: Information relating to the financial cost of treating schizophrenia is not collected centrally and no estimate can be made.

Care Workers(Statutory Requirements)

Phil Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the average cost of complying with statutory requirements for each individial care worker in respect of (a) criminal records checks, (b) NVQ training, (c) health and safety training, (d) manual handling training, (e) food hygiene training, (f) first aid training and (g) other statutory requirements.

Stephen Ladyman: The cost to an employer for a Criminal Records Bureau check is £29 for an enhanced check and £24 for a standard check. This will increase to £33 and £28 respectively as of 1 April 2004.
	National Vocational Qualification training is not a statutory requirement on all individual social care workers. However the Department's National Minimum Standards set out the proportions of staff that should have achieved NVQ qualification in each type of service provision in order for that provision to be registered by the National Care Services Commission.
	For strategic planning purposes, the Department accepts the cost estimate from Topss England, the national training organisation for social care, which is £1,000 per NVQ qualification. This is very approximate because NVQ qualifications differ substantially across the levels, and every worker brings different experience and learning capacity to their assessments.
	In respect of other training, it is for the employer of social care workers to ensure that their staff training meets statutory requirements, which vary between different care settings, and no data collection is made centrally of the costs.
	To assist employers in this, in addition to the substantial general finance settlement increases to local councils, and the existing Department's Training Support Programme Grant (£56 million), the Department introduced a new National Training Strategy Specific Grant to councils for 2003–04 of £25 million, rising to £31 million next year, and a provisional £95 million the year after. For 2003–04, this grant has a condition attached that councils must spend 50 per cent, of their allocation on workers in the private and voluntary sectors. For 2004–05 and 2005–06 this grant will become a Specific Formula Grant, and cease to be ring fenced, therefore without any conditions. Also the Department funds Topss England £15 million per annum to support the implementation of their National Traininmg Strategy. In addition to the Department's grants, funding is being drawn into the system from many other sources, most notably the Learning and Skill Councils.

Sunbeds

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the risk to health of sunbed use; what steps he has taken to ensure sunbed users are made aware of the health risks arising from sunbed use; and if he will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: Reports on the effects of ultra-violet radiation (UVR) from the National Radiological Protection Board, the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection and the British Medical Association conclude that there is no direct evidence that sunbed exposure causes skin cancer. By far the greatest source of UVR exposure is the sun. That is why we have taken measures to encourage the public to protect themselves and their children from the risks of unsafe exposure to the sun. We have, with key stakeholders, developed the SunSmart campaign, run by Cancer Research UK. The campaign was launched in March 2003 and funded by the United Kingdom Health Departments. Campaign leaflets and posters were sent to all general practitioner surgeries, secondary schools and health promotion units. Subject to further funding, the forthcoming campaign for summer 2004 will build on the success of last year's campaign.
	The potential dangers involved in the use of sunbeds will be the subject of a meeting of experts and industry hosted by SunSmart on 29 March. The campaign will review the latest scientific evidence and develop practical recommendations for better self-regulation.
	The Government acknowledge the risks to young people of exposure to UVR in all of its forms. On sunbeds specifically, the Health and Safety Executive has published guidance for operators and customers of solaria. Included in the advice was that people under 16-years-old should not use sunbeds and that a limit of 20 sessions per year should be observed. This advice was developed after consultation with leading experts and is accepted as good advice.

Tuberculosis

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the reasons are for the increase in tuberculosis in London; and if he will make a statement on the remedial action he proposes.

John Hutton: Homelessness, living conditions, ethnic distribution as well as improved reporting and surveillance have led to the increase of reported cases of tuberculosis in London.

Wanless Report

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which conclusions and recommendations in the report "Securing our Future Health: Taking a Long-Term View", by Mr. Derek Wanless, his Department does not accept.

John Hutton: My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced in the 2002 Budget that the Government accepted the conclusions of the Wanless Review. In order to deliver reform, my right hon. Friend also announced in his 2002 Budget historic sustained levels of increase in national health service funding, an average annual increase of 7.3 per cent., in real terms for the five years 2003–04 to 2007–08.